You’ve arrived at your doctor’s office fifteen minutes early for your appointment, you casually walk over to the front desk and let them know you’ve arrived. You’re then asked to have a seat in the waiting area while the doctor finishes up with his last appointment. Thirty minutes later, you’re still waiting to be seen!

Fast forward another thirty minutes, now you’re sitting in a room being asked ridiculous questions by a nurse, as she finishes up and walks out the door, she says the doctor will be with you in a few minutes. Ten minutes go by and the doctor finally walks in the door.

Your doctor studies your chart, asks you a few brief questions, then pulls out his magical pad and hands you your salvation. A brief explanation of your illness and the medications he’s prescribed for you, and out the door he goes. Just under ten minutes! So why did he take so long to see you?

One of the most common complaints I hear from people about doctors, is that they’re always running late. You wait, wait some more, and when the doctor finally sees you…its a quick in and out. He doesn’t chit chat with you, he doesn’t ask you how your cat Mr.Cuddles is doing, nothing. Just in and out, how rude!

Having worked with doctors and various other medical professionals these last few years, I’ve learned a lot of what goes on “behind the scenes” at a typical doctor’s office. Believe me when I tell you, doctors aren’t purposely making you wait outside, and they aren’t as anti-social as they seem during your visit. In fact, if anyone is to blame for a doctor running late, its the patients themselves! Thats right, you! Its your fault!

After studying the information you provided to their nurses or technicians, such as a list of symptoms and the information the nurse/tech collects such as vitals and other observations, the doctor has already formulated a theory before he even enters the room to see you.  All that is left to do is examine you himself.  In the ideal situation, there is no need to even speak to the patient anymore than five minutes, since all the vital information should already have been disclosed to the nurse/tech and be included on his chart.

The doctor’s day begins when he proceeds to see the first scheduled patient promptly at eight. The patient describes his symptoms and the doctor begins his examinations. Once the exam is over, the doctor makes a diagnosis and prescribes the proper medication. The patient leaves happily in just under fifteen minutes. The doctor finishes up the paper work, and onto the next patient.

The doctor picks up the chart on the way to the next patient and studies it on the way in. No medication, no major history, clean bill of health until now says the chart, and the patient is here due to a “cold.” The doctor walks in already knowing what he is going to prescribe for his cold symptoms. Patient describes his cold symptoms, followed by an examination. Medication is prescribed and the doctor is making his way towards the door. Suddenly, “hey doc, by the way” the patient then goes on to describe another set of symptoms completely different from the first set. Back pain, trouble breathing, headaches, anything. These new set of symptoms can completely change the previous diagnosis, and lead to completely different tests and treatments. Oh man! This is known as the “Doorknob Phenomenon”, and every doctor will experience it several times through out a typical day.

At this point the doctor is now legally obligated to look into and examine the patient’s new symptoms. Depending on what the symptoms are, the doctor may need to order labs or perform other tests. This just delayed the doctor quite a bit. While this patient is getting his x-rays, or other labs, the doctor then proceeds to the next patient several minutes behind schedule.

Doc picks up and studies the chart on the way into the next examination room. Twenty year old female with a sore throat. No current medication, no major history. Upon entering the room, the doctor immediately noticed the young ladies’ mother has accompanied her daughter into the exam room. Patient describes the symptoms, and the doctor diagnoses then prescribed medication. The mother then asks about side effects of the drugs, alternative medication, or even all natural solutions for her daughters illness. Even with the doctor’s education, mother still thinks she knows best and keeps pressing the doctor to prescribe something else. “I’ve heard that medication causes cancer.” All kinds of crazy housewife tales. This small and annoying discussion surely stalls the already delayed doctor several more minutes.

Next patient, the chart fails to mention any of the patients symptoms, and contains very little history. The chart does mention this young man specifically asked for a male doctor. Upon entering the room, the young man hesitantly begins to describe his “issue.” He drops his pants and reveals the source of these issues. The doctor recognizes this as an STD and prescribes the proper medication after the confirmation of a lab test. Most doctors are required to keep stats of all STD infections for reporting purposes, and of course should/must notify any of the patients recent sexual partners and possibly have the staff schedule appointments for them to be tested.

The doctor’s next stop is the man previously sent to the lab for further examination earlier this morning. His lab results are in, and he is waiting in the exam room. If the labs clearly show a problem, then its treated. If nothing shows up but the doctor still feels weary of releasing this patient, then more tests must be scheduled.

A doctor needs his energy and he is already late for lunch. Once there are no more patients in the exam rooms, he goes off for a quick bite to eat.

Having come back after a rushed lunch, the doctor makes his way to the next exam room only to find that its empty. His next patient is running late, so the doctor skips ahead to the next one.

Diagnose and treat, textbook case! His late patient still isn’t here, but a middle aged woman walked in looking to be seen. No problem. Diagnose, then prescribe medication. The woman then pulls out a plastic bag with all her current medications. Oh boy, the chart said she wasn’t on any medication! To prevent any of her medications from reacting negatively or even counteracting with the medication the doctor just prescribed, doc must now double check every single prescription. Its his head on the chopping block if something goes wrong.

Now the patient who arrived late is complaining for having to wait! The patient is clearly resentful and even uncooperative with a bad attitude through out the entire consult with the doctor, simply because this patient couldn’t have their way.

The next patient is an older gentleman who’s being seen here for the fist time. The man is easily diagnosed and the doctor then begins to explain the proper dosage of the medication. Wait a minute, the gentleman claims he has already been prescribed this medication by another doctor and it didn’t work, thats why he came here. Without a proper medical record the doctor had no way of knowing, but doc prescribes an alternative anyway.

As you can see, each patient is unique and their illness presents itself in various manners that may differ from patient to patient. The doctor, although highly trained, must treat each patient accordingly and can never truly know how long he will take with a patient. The highly random variables in personality, promptness, honesty, current medications, and health make it truly hard for a doctor to always be on time. The scenarios above are merely my own watered down “cartoon” version of things that may have happened, and do not contain any personal identifiable information. I’m no doctor, nor have I ever claimed to be, but I find the medical field exciting and enjoy learning more about it.