Observations from too many medical visits

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I have had several check-ups and routine procedures clumped too close together. Doc office overload! This is my takeaway.

All practices have home renovation shows on the TV in the waiting room. If you are lucky you don’t get to see the whole show (because your appointment is on time) so you either don’t know what it looked like at the beginning or the end. I bring my Kindle and play Free Cell.

There is a vision in my head of what a nurse practitioner looks like. Middle-aged and practical looking with what my mom would call sensible clothes. Most wear white or a lab coat. The one I had did not look like that. It threw me off. She looked like a runway model complete with 5” heels. Her information seemed on target. When someone doesn’t look like you expect, it’s a barrier that you have to get over. This was a weird one for me.

They post signs about being charged if you are late. I couldn’t find one that said they would pay you if they were late. Doesn’t sound fair to me.

Some practices give freebies and some don’t. My GI (gastro-intestinal) practice gave me a bag full of stuff to try. It was like a candy story! (None of them had any street value!) I can’t remember the last time I got a sample anywhere else. I looked up one of the samples and it was way too expensive to use regularly.

I’m healthy so this should be the end for a while but you never know.

57 thoughts on “Observations from too many medical visits”

  2. I hope that’s the last of your Dr. visits for a while! Our doctor’s office is quiet, thankfully. The weird thing about it is that there are no magazines. They have tons of coffee table books on various topics in the waiting room and the exam rooms. All on kind of strange topics. But at least its quiet, so I’ll take it!

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    • It will start up in January again but I have a medical lull right now and I’m enjoying it. Except for the kids area (if a doc has one) I’ve never seen books in the waiting area. Since reading an article on the germs in the waiting area, I bring my own reading material.

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  3. I am absolutely resentful about being subjected to television while at the doctor. It makes me grumpy, but apparently I’m in a minority position here. I would love a quiet room and just let me read. Gone are those days! LOL! I’m glad you’re in good health and I hope you have a minimum of appointments in 2020. You exceeded your limit this past year. 🙂

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    • I don’t know if it’s the aging thing or if primary care docs routinely hand off to specialists but everything these days seems to require that extra specialist step. I’ve gotten good care but enough now!

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  4. Gee the only thing our doc tv shows is endless glossy infomercials by pharmaceutical companies and hospital corporation with “hints” for healthy living. Over and over. UGH.
    Knock on wood we’re staying out of doc offices…we did find it funny that a couple of days ago we got emails asking when we got our flu shots as they needed to enter it in electronic records…odd because for several years we practically had to beg them to give the shots to us – they kept saying you can get those at the drug store or grocery store. So last year and this year we went to Costco. Husband laughed maybe it’s the end of the year and they need some money to make budget quota?

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    • I was at the eye doc yesterday. I have dry eye. Had it for 20 years. Every year there is a new thing that will “help.” None completely covered by insurance though. Last year I did a treatment and it sort of helped. Yesterday they wanted me to try something else. I’m convinced my file is marked “sucker for anything that sounds like a cure.” Not making any decision until I find someone else who has had it. If it’s only good for a few months to a year, I’m not sure it’s worth it.

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  5. Oh my gosh, you got me with your very first line. The home remedy shows that play non-stop on the TV in the corner of the waiting room. WHY???? When I had to go weekly to my PT and OT sessions while recovering from a concussion, not only did the office play the home remedy show continuously, they played it L O U D L Y. I kindly told the lady at the desk that this was a place for patients healing from head injuries, and one of the rules we had to follow to heal was NO LOUD SOUNDS. She did reluctantly turn it down. Jeez.

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  6. I had a NP once exactly like the one you described except she also had a plunging neckline. Between the heels and her cleavage, I wasn’t sure if I was at a medical office or a bar. It was odd to the point of comedy. I’ll take med freebies any day. – Marty

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  7. I worked for a Dr who was habitually late, drove the staff insane and his patients but yet they kept coming. He would come to work late and then he would go in his office and meditate for an hour. No lie! We were specifically told that we were not supposed to disturb him unless there was a fire!

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    • My husband had the worst experience. He had a first apt at 8 a.m. with our “former” PCP. He got there about 5 minutes early. The doc came in but didn’t see him until 9. There were no other patients in the office. He didn’t understand what was going on. His blood pressure was off the charts. We changed docs right after that. It’s one thing to have an emergency. It’s another to have a patient wait so you can catch up on your paperwork or whatever. When he left there weren’t any patients. He will never understand why he didn’t just see him and then do his whatever.

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  9. Well at least you got a clean bill of health for all your tests and poking and prodding … good job! I usually try to get a first appointment so I get called in without much waiting, but since I don’t have TV at home, I always enjoy the Today show which is on screens in all the rooms at the dentist office.

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      • Mine doesn’t run late either – I don’t think I’ve ever had to wait for him, and he also has video games in his lobby. He moved to a new office about 6-7 years ago because his old office was too old for putting the electronics he needed to go all digital which he is now, so he moved into an old bar. All digital is good, though I sometimes get reminder cards for appointments that I never made or when I was just there. 🙂

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  10. Hi Kate, It sounds like your Doc offices are similar to our offices. No TV in our waiting rooms. I am wary of the many, germy magazines. The runway models are sometimes the doctors. A barrier I have to get over. Glad you are healthy, Kate🙂

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  12. I see a nurse practitioner. She looks to be about 16. I know she is older than that but she could be my daughter. She would have been born just a few years before I hit menopause. Nice thing is I have never had to wait more than 10-15 minutes to see her.

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  16. I have spent some time waiting in doctor’s offices and I think that if they know you are going to be waiting a long time the least they could do is have comfortable chairs that don’t make your butt bones hurt. There is a doctor’s office here that has club chairs for their waiting room. Thankful you are finished with your medical stuff for now. Do something that makes you happy to celebrate!

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  17. I wonder how they can walk on those heels all day. I used to wear them when I was a receptionist/office manager but once the kids came it was flats for me and I’ve never looked back. Glad all your tests came out okay.

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  19. I’ve often wondered about the “one way street” policy most doctors have about being late and being charged if you are – the reverse definitely is not considered but I think in all my years I’ve never (alright – maybe twice) had a doctor appointment that was ON TIME! I also hear you on the “she didn’t look like I thought” thing – although where I have that issue is at my dermatologist’s office (which is understandable in a way) – they are all runway model gorgeous, perfect advertisements for all the “procedures” they offer (not me but others!!) – but I have to say, they are SO FRIENDLY and SO KNOWLEDGEABLE. I feel like they simply decided to be walking advertisements for their practice – and they are. I’ve had wonderful care and since I have recurring skin cancer issues, that’s a GOOD thing for me. This past year both hubby and I spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME in doctors offices. Hopefully all of us will get a break in 2020!

    Hugs, Pam

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  20. Here’s hoping your doctor visits can quit for awhile. I can relate, I just did 6 hospital/doctor appointments, 3 hour drive one way from our house, in 15 days with Mister. Think we’re on the winning end though, got 12 days until the next appointment.
    I agree, why isn’t it important that we have to wait when doctors are behind. I understand and get mildly late, but we had a doctor that a hour wait was not unusual, but we got sh** if we were late.
    I’ve noticed the home show thing in waiting rooms too.

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    • Unless I know the doc is timely I do the same. I’ve never had control of the TV but then again I’m sharing it with 10 other people in the waiting room. Way back I had to have a contrast mammo which meant that they did a mammo, injected dye, waited a half hour and took another mammo. There I had my own TV. Tuned into Rachel! 🙂 Daytime TV isn’t all that exciting.

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  22. OMG, I feel exactly the same about being charged for being late or missing an appointment. There have been so many times–especially at the OB-Gyn–that I have sat for hours. I finally started going to the desk the second I arrived and asking how long the delay was. Sometimes I would reschedule, only to have the same thing happen again the next time. I understand that babies do not always behave and pregnant women are at risk (I was one of them!), but I recently switched to a gynecologist who doesn’t handle pregnancies. Further away, but far less aggravating.

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  23. My PCP always has home reno shows on! But where I go for mammograms and bone scans has the local news.

    We should petition our docs to play a string of COMEDY movies. Laugh Out Loud stuff. Because, after all, as we know ~> laughter is the BEST medicine!

    Glad you’re OK (for now).

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