What's a normal wait time for your doctor?

We had a pretty rough go of it this morning at our doctor's office so I'm curious- what is your average wait time at your doctor's office? In the waiting room vs the exam room? How long does it typically take to get through an entire visit (of the well-baby or weight-check variety)?

 

We never waited more than 5 minutes in the waiting room and the whole visit isn't longer than 30 minutes walking in- walking out.

 

5-10 minutes in waiting room, 5 in room after preliminaries.. I'd say 30-45min total.

 

It really depends. When I worked for the big pediatric place, we had doctors that were quicker, and doctors that took longer. Some of the doctors were never more than five minutes behind, and some of them were always at least two hours behind.

When I worked at the pedi endocrinologists office, we only had two doctors. One of them was 100% punctual, spent the entire alotted time with patients, was never late, and the other one started off the day late. Of course, that was assuming that all of the patients were there on time (well, really 10 minutes early) with all of the required paperwork. Later morning appointments are the worst for running late. If you want to be in and out, pick the first one in the morning, or the first one in the afternoon.

Our current place, for just one kid, is usually about 45 minutes from in to out. It's over an hour for both at the same time.

 

Bex has a great perspective. We always go at 8,30 AM which is the earliest appointment, I prefer to go in the morning, and then I go to work, this way I don't have to take a lot of time off for it.

 

^ this Sorry you had a rough morning! My Drs office is horrible at running behind but you can call ahead and ask how far behind they are and tell them you will be later then...they never make me wait when I get there. My peds office is fast though....I think they understand little ones can not wait like adults

 

I'm all kinds of fired up right now. We have never been in and out of our ped's office, in two years, in less than three hours. I'm counting 9:00am appointments, well baby visits, sick visits, and weight checks. Ever.

Today our appointment was at 11:00 for a weight check (which is getting old on it's own). I arrived at 10:45, stripped the girls down to be weighed and were in an exam room by 10:55. They're always so good about this part of the process. Then I waited. And waited. At 11:45 I put my head out and asked how much longer. At 12:15 I packed the girls up and walked out.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to look indignant with two toddlers in tow? Oy.

A nurse caught up with me once the girls were loaded and asked if she could help me get them back inside so that she could interrupt the doctor. I told her no (mostly because I cry when I'm really mad and I was *really* mad and didn't want to look like an idiot).

I called the doctor at 12:30 and was told to expect a call by 1:00. I haven't received a call.

Okay. I'm just cranky now. Dumb doctor. Neither smart nor nice.

 

Stephanie - I'm right there with you. We've never made it out of the current pedi's office in under 1.5 hours, and it's usually closer to 2 hours. For a 2pm appointment, I arrive at 1:50. They photocopy my insurance card and make me update our address info EACH time. Even when I promise nothing has changed. We get called back maybe at 2:20, sometimes as late as 2:40, and do the weighing and temperature stuff. Then the doctor takes another 45 minutes to arrive while I read books, offer snacks, and generally jump around to entertain my two kids in a tiny room. It's ridiculous. I have walked out twice and have never received an apology or call, just dirty looks from the front desk people. I'm currently searching for a new pedi! I think you should too.

And... if you don't mind me asking... why do you have to go in for weight checkups? Can't you measure at home and phone the numbers in? We had to do that with Piper and our awesome pedi (previous city) recommended we weigh at home so that I didn't have to make the trip in so often.

 

And a weight check shouldn't involve the doctor anyway. It should be in, weighed by the nurse/CNA, leave, the doctor can call you when they get a moment. Sounds like a totally inefficient way of doing it.

 

I'm definitely leaving our practice. Which is disappointing because I really trust the doctor, but it's just not worth it to stay.

I wish I understood why they need us back in office for weight checks. Both girls are off the charts (negative weight percentiles) and my doctor has been such an alarmist about it. If they were failing to thrive I would think there would be other indicators (developmental) of an issue. This is such a PITA. I'm over it.

 

Wow, it sounds really bad, I guess I didn't realize how lucky we are to have such a good practice. I would change clinics if I were you, it's hard enough to raise twins, without unnecessary complications. Good luck!

 

I actually had Anthony's 4 year appointment this morning. I didn't even get Angry Birds on for him before we were called in! :laughing: The nurse did weight, etc then we went into the room with her and did all that paperwork stuff. And within 5 minutes, the Dr. was in. Now, we chatted for quite awhile over my concerns for Anthony. But with the initial appt at 10:30am, in the room by 10:35, we were done by 11:15am. We never really wait that long. I would say ten minutes at the most-in the room-waiting for the Dr. Now-there was one Dr that was notoriously late-because he chatted....he's since retired.

 

I hate to say it... but if they're involving the doctor in each of your weight checks, perhaps they're charging the insurance company for a full visit? That's a lot of extra income, maybe.

And you're the Mom. If you don't think your kids need weight checks, then don't schedule them! It took me several years to come to terms with not following every piece of advice from the doctor. Pediatricians have been to a lot of school, but it doesn't make them perfect.

 

To the bold, yes! I'm starting to really consider that and get upset by it.

As far as declining doctor's advice- I've been struggling with it so much. They're the doctor, they are educated, I need to trust them. What if they're right to be concerned, what if something is wrong, how do I fix it? As I feel more and more taken advantage of by this practice, though, the more those thoughts are taking a back seat to my own observations of my kids. I, personally, am not a doctor person. I don't take advil for headaches, I don't go to the doctor for a cold or flu. When it's come to my kids, though, I don't want to ever not care for them properly. In these last few months, and today especially, I am going to trust my gut and say that the girls are fine. I'll schedule a two year well baby with the new practice and we'll see what they say about the girls' weight then.

Oh man, you can read my frustration. That post makes no sense!

 

I doubt they're billing the insurance company for an office visit because the insurance company wouldn't pay for that unless it was a scheduled well-child visit or there's a diagnosis of illness. There's no way my insurance company would pay for a weight check. They won't even pay for a well-child visit scheduled one day early (my doctor's office is very careful about when they schedule those). But it does sound like your doctor's practice is not efficiently run. Emergencies do happen sometimes and doctors run behind because of them, but it shouldn't be like that at every visit. For small children, up to a 15-minute wait in the waiting room is reasonable, I think. Total visit, for two kids examined together, should last no longer than an hour. Sounds like you should look for another doctor.

 

Under 5 minutes to go back. Between 5 and 10 once back. Out the door in under 45 even for well baby checks. We've had some long specialist appointments though. But even the worst wasn't 2 hours.

 

Like I said on facebook, I always have a minimum wait time of an hour, it really doesn't matter what time I go in. At least 15 mins in the waiting room, and up to an hour or more in the exam room. I hate hate hate the wait times at our dr office. However, he's been my dr for 13 yrs and I LOVE my dr. I just hate the overscheduling and wait times I live in a small town so there aren't any other dr's options. The next closest one is at least 45 mins away. I take the kids to the urgent care (also 45 mins away), if it's a last minute thing, because I can't even get in to see my dr at the last minute, he's always booked up, and I can't stand/don't trust the other 3 dr's in the practice.

 

I would say the wait in our office is no longer then 10-15 minutes between waiting in the waiting room and exam room. When it's both kids being seen, the visit usually takes an hour.
Stephanie, I don't blame you for having the desire to change offices.

 

We usually are in the waiting room for about 5-10 minutes tops. By the time we do the whole check-up, it's usually around 45 minutes or an hour depending on if they need shots, how many questions we have, etc.

Only once in almost two years have we had a really long wait, and that was about a 45 minute wait in the waiting room and another 30 after we got back there, but there were some extenuating circumstances that they explained to us and were VERY apologetic about. And they always return phone calls very promptly.

Sounds to me like you need to find a new office, but I know that is easier said than done. My personal doctor takes forever, but I hate the thought of having to fill someone in on all my history when I've been going to this practice for most of my life.

 

After years of waiting forever in doctors offices I finally found a clinic where I can book online and I never have to wait for my appointment. Once I booked with my regular doctor's husband (he works in the same practice) and he actually apologized to me because I had to wait 10 minutes! I have basically vowed to go with them for the rest of my life.

My mom waits 3 hours at her clinic because she's afraid of having to find another doctor. I think that's totally ridiculous, and completely disrespectful to a patient. Your time is worth something too, and you shouldn't have to waste it to address a medical concern.

 

My pedi has times for scheduled visits and appointments and times for drop-in visits with sick children every day.

For a scheduled visit I usually wait about 5-10 minutes for the nurse to do the intial checks and paperwork and another 5-10 minutes for the pedi himself. Only once have I waited longer (nearly 1.5 hours) but there was an emergency and they told me as soon as they realized it would be taking longer and apologized a lot. I understand a situation like that - I have been that emergency too coming in with a very sick child during the time for scheduled visits and disrupting everything. For scheduled visits the pedi takes their time.

For a drop-in visit with a sick child anything between 5 mintues and over 1.5 hours is normal. They do not go on a FIFO basis durign drop-in times, but look at how sick the child is and what age the child is; as the children become older we wait longer and longer. With the babies I never waited more than 10 minutes. For drop-ins the visits are usually very quick.

I love our pedis (husband and wife with 4 children of their own) and even accept the longer drive. Their clinic is very well organized and very friendly; one detail I really appreciate is that they have a separate (tiny) waiting area for babies to protect them from all the germs in the waiting room.

 

That sounds like a nightmare to me. There could be all kinds of things going on, but since the front desk people sound rude, I'd be willing to bet that appointment scheduling isn't handled well and they book more appointments than they could handle. I hope you look for a new pedi. That would be so frustrating.

We rarely wait at all, 5 minutes tops to go to the exam room. Once in the room we may wait 5-10 minutes but it's pretty quick. We are usually in and out within 30-45 minutes depending on whether they need to get shots. Those are done by a nurse after the exams and sometimes there's a little wait (5 min maybe) for that. We had one specialist appointment with one of our sons that was a nightmare - about 3 hours. Any pediatric doctor or specialist should know that is WAY too long for an infant to be at an appointment. What about feedings? And naps?

 

Okay, here's an update. I spoke with somebody at the Doctor's office Monday afternoon and they said that the doctor would call me that night. Nothing. I called Tuesday and asked again and was promised a call back. Nothing. Yesterday I requested our records.

The doctor's assistant just called to let me know that she received my records request and that our copays from Monday would be refunded via check, less a $12 Autism Screening fee. Uh? No. We didn’t have an autism screening. She says that we had one in September. No we didn’t. So I went back and forth with her and explained that 1) I never consented to a screening (and likely wouldn’t have since I have ZERO concerns about autism), 2) nobody ever discussed anything with me while in the appointment, 3) I have received no paperwork to indicate that a screening took place. She had no answer to that.

I explained that I was sick of the lack of communication (be it about a screening or about why I was sitting in an exam room for over an hour) and that I felt that the practice treats parents very poorly. I asked her if she has kids (yes) and asked how she would feel about returning for three weight checks in three months that she might disagree with, but still going (!), and then having each appointment take a minimum of three hours (only 30 minutes spent with the PA) to be told that we need to return again. She said she'd be frustrated, kids are hard to entertain for that long (right!).

I said that we felt taken advantage of and angry about how we’ve been treated. I more or less unloaded every gripe I had. Again, I swear I was nice and even spoke highly of the nurses who have tried to be helpful while we’re there.

So now they’re refunding the full $50 but I still don’t know if we’re on track for weight (neither the PA nor the doctor has followed up with me as promised). I told her to send my entire statement of account (she’s faxing it) and they have the girls’ records ready for pick up. I’m going to have an appointment for the girls’ two year well baby with a new practice.

I’m calmer now that I’ve typed all that. I guess I got the resolution I wanted, but they just were not apologetic enough.

 

Good for you! You are doing the right thing. I hope your new practice is fabulous.

 

As far as the weight goes, I don't know if this helps but this was my experience. My twins fell off the charts around 18 months or 2 years or so. Right now, at 6 1/2, they are both only about 35 pounds. One is the shortest in his class, the other is about an inch taller but is still near one of the shortest. Weight or growth has never been an issue of concern with any of their pediatricians (we're on our third right now, thank you military moves!). At one appt I remember asking why no one has ever seemed concerned about them being so underweight. The ped explained to me that they are both growing consistently. While they are both underweight, they are hitting milestones on time (some even way before) and that their growth is consistent. As in, they aren't gaining a whole bunch of weight really quickly and then not gaining anything at all for a period of time. I hope that makes sense!



And just to add, I've never had to wait more than 15ish minutes for an appt. In fact, I remember one time the receptionist calling me to tell me the Ped was behind and I could either just come in a half hour later or completely reschedule. Where we go now, they are usually in and out in a half hour.

 

Failure to Thrive is an illness diagnosis.

 

Wow, what a mess! Good thing you got out of there. I hope the new practice is great!