A few weeks ago, I made an appointment with a doctor’s office. I was told it was for 9:15 on a given morning, and that’s what I entered in my calendar. Today, the office called to confirm the appointment, and the secretary added: “We want you to be there twenty minutes before.” My response: “then why didn’t you tell me that when I made the appointment?” The response was that the 20 minutes would be for me to fill out paperwork, which they only ask of first-time patients. Again, I asked, “why wasn’t I told that when I made the appointment?” The light bulb finally went on in the receptionist’s head, and she admitted I had a point.
Not long ago, something similar happened to me when I had an appointment with another arm of the same octopus (Community Care Physicians). When I showed up at the appointed time, I was asked if I just had come from having a sonogram. I replied that that was the first time I had heard about a sonogram, and that if I was supposed to have come early for that purpose, I should have been told. I received an apology, and the ultrasound technician squeezed me in.
Both these scenarios indicate that what I thought were appointments for me were actually appointments for the doctors who were seeing me. While they were given the correct information about when I would be available for them, I was not given the correct information about what else was expected of me. I understand and respect the value of doctors’ time, but Community Care also should understand and respect the value of its patients’ time, and let them know when to show up for what will be required of them, not just when the doctor herself or himself will be seeing them.
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