Many, many times have I visited a doctor or specialist and many, many times have I waited at each office of varying times. A busy office can lead to longer wait times if the check-in process and flow of examinations don't run smoothly. This can also hold true with larger practices for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, at many offices, you spend minutes (and maybe hours!) waiting to be called.
When you hear your name, you feel relieved. "Whew! I made it!" you may say. You finally make it back to the examination room, and then...you're left waiting, again! Then you may say, "At least they had magazines out in the waiting room. Can I wait back out there? Darn!"
Well, a new article by The New York Times talks about waiting times at offices. They find that Optometrists (yup, that's me) have the shortest wait times, 17 minutes on average. The average wait time to see a doctor is 23 minutes. Are you spending more than 23 minutes waiting for the doctor? Is he/she worth your valuable time? Hmmmm...
I bring this up because many people don't enjoy going to the doctor. Add this to long wait times to see that doctor and that equals some unhappy patients.
As a new practice, one thing that I can offer my patients is minimal to NO wait times. I'm the only doctor in the office, I set aside an hour for each comprehensive patient exam and I make an effort to NOT double book examination times. The amount of time that I set aside gives me enough time to perform a thorough eye examination, as well as some time to get to know the patient, which is how I enjoy practicing optometry and why I opened up my own business.
So, I hope that your eyes are getting the care and attention that you need, without having to wait to long. If not, I know of a good place that you may want to check out.
Sincerely,
Dr. Weaver
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