I'm reminded of a talk at a medical conference about patient interaction.
The talk was scheduled. People showed up. No speaker was visible. The doors closed. People sat there. Finally someone got unhappy enough to leave. Discovered that the doors were locked. Soon the whole room was up in arms.
Then the speaker got up from the first row, went to the stage, and said, "I did this because no words are as effective as demonstrating the point. Yes, you are all busy people. But your patients are busy people as well. Many bill hourly so time is literally money to them. So don't waste their time and money by being late."
I wish more doctors followed this...Ive spent far too many hours of my life waiting in receptions or exam rooms at hospitals. Unfortunately they are kind of squeezed in to seeing more patients per day than they would probably like, and one delay ripples through the rest of the patients.
I wish there was some sort of system to know exactly how far behind (if at all) your doctor was running that you could check online to minimize lost time.
I've recently been seeing an Osteopath, and I've been really delighted that his administrative staff have twice contacted me a couple of hours before appointments to reschedule (by 30-40 minutes) as his schedule had slipped during the day. I haven't spent more than 1 or 2 minutes waiting for him. It's kind-of sad that this level of service is remarkable rather than customary.
The talk was scheduled. People showed up. No speaker was visible. The doors closed. People sat there. Finally someone got unhappy enough to leave. Discovered that the doors were locked. Soon the whole room was up in arms.
Then the speaker got up from the first row, went to the stage, and said, "I did this because no words are as effective as demonstrating the point. Yes, you are all busy people. But your patients are busy people as well. Many bill hourly so time is literally money to them. So don't waste their time and money by being late."