WebMD Community Talk Show

I hate it when they give you crap if your underweight,overweight or Obese! Regrdless of weight your still a patient that should have every right the "normal" weight range people have regardless of your weight!No person who goes to a Dr should ever be talked down to like your crap on their shoes! They made the choice to become a Dr to help people not frown upon certin ones!

I hate the three things waiting (my specialist his patents bring blankets and books for the LOOONNGGG wait.. The weight thing does bother me.. especially when it is in an area where others can see walking by... Third and defiantly not the least the doctor telling me I do to much I need to slow down (as I will have to pay him 150 for the visit) then the blood test usually 10 or more at 300 each.. I have no veins so I get poked at over and over again and MAYBE only get 2 or 3 of them

The feeling of not getting enough out of my visit and the feeling of uncertainty.

It could really just be my lack of communication skills or possibly my inability to speak up, but every time I go there, I feel nothing happened, and when I walk out of the door, I'm not really armed with more knowledge of my health than when I walked in. I'm trying to learn and improve, like, for one, setting up the right kind of visit next time. Haha.

I also feel like in order to go to the doctor, I have to be armed with a whole set of maneuvering skills, like how to talk to the secretary over the phone, what to talk to them about, what different kinds of visits there are and which is best suited for me 'cause the secretary doesn't seem to always know or want to answer complicated questions. I'm probably already suppose to know the answer, though. Ha.

Oh, going to an appointment in January when their office is asking for proof of insurance again when nothing has changed for me, and having to go through customer service of the insurance company to get the right paperwork. It could be right, but I always feel like I'm missing something, something I'm suppose to be doing. I guess I need to learn to prepare for these visits better...

My suggestion is to plan every doctor visit with specific objectives.


Example...

My best friend has a serious illness so she's asked me to attend important consults she has with her doctors. I agreed on one condition: We go prepared.

Before each scheduled appointment, we spitball together a list of questions and we select from that list 3 questions that are the most important.

I fax this list to the office manager (very important person) a week in advance so the doc can review our questions ahead of time.

I don't care if the doctor reviews our questions before the appointment; that's his choice. I simply tell my friend,
"These are your questions. No matter how busy he is, we don't leave unless you receive satisfactory answers to all three."

These visits are no different than any business meeting. You extend professional courtesy. You document all important issues in writing to minimize miss communication. Either you or someone on your team takes copious notes to review afterwards. You allow the doctor to ask his questions, first, and you answer each one to the best of your ability and end each response with, "Does that answer your question?"

Once he's completed his examination, we pull out our list...


In a doctor visit, whether you like it not, business is taking place. The doctor provides a service and its your job to drive home, happy.

Both parties have "deliverables" that need to be exchanged, questions that need answers. Fair is fair. Quid pro quo.

When the meter's running, no one in this world wants to be disrespected or have their time wasted. And, if you allow your visits to be "one way streets", you have no one to blame but yourself.



We go in smiling, share a few jokes, relax and have a good time but beneath it all, we are dead serious. We have to be. My friend is dying...

Actually, we all are...

Even if they don't have electronic medical records, they should be reading your progress notes when they come in to see you. Why do they take the notes if no one is going to read them?

They could give you a test which would cost you more money. They are listening to you which is why they send you back out the door with antibiotics. If you take a test, whether it be a blood test or swab, and it comes back positive, they are still going to send you out the door with a prescription for antibiotics.

Doctors' treat patients as thou they are idiots! I need a doctor that will actual work with me and treat me with respect (realising that I am not a idiot - I know more about my disease than they do, Rheumatoid Arthritis).

It is really frustrating.

Susan

The wait, 1 hour in the waiting room and another hour in the
exam room.

I, too, have my list of complaints:

• the long waits (I bring my knitting)
• being closed up in a little exam room while waiting (it gets hot and/or stuffy, so I open the door a crack and tell anyone closing it that I have claustrophobia)
• the doctor doesn't seem to have enough time (well, they often DON'T have much, and they, too, often wish they had more)
• rude office staff (it's possible that the doctor doesn't realize how they are to patients, because they're always nice to him/her)
• getting weighed (or worse yet, having them ask me what my weight is -- they should have the actual data, not my guess -- and your best weight is taken on the same scale every time, so always going by their scale tells them if you've lost or gained, which is very important for many reasons)
• the MA using the wrong size BP cuff -- and not even realizing that it makes a difference
• etc.

I used to be a nurse, so I've had lots of exposure to doctors besides the ones I've seen as a patient. And some of them are real jerks. And some of them with their title were at the bottom of the class, and maybe not very good. Some of them are burned out. Sometimes they have serious problems going on in their own lives (a seriously ill family member, a kid who's experimenting with drugs, etc.) and aren't able to be at their best.

But there are also wonderful ones -- ones I have been happy to work with and to go to. They weren't perfect -- they hit some of the items on my list -- but they were good clinicians with good bedside manners and genuine concern for their patients. There was one I had who was so great that when he got transferred to another base, I went into a major funk for a week or two!

Certainly, I'm not accusing anyone here of doing things wrong when they go see their doctors. But, I wonder how many realize that they have the power to change things. Decide how serious are your reasons why you hate to go, whether they're worth mentioning to your doctor. If it's important, speak up to and let them know your gripes -- very tactfully, of course -- as reasonably and politely as you'd want them to talk to you. If things don't get better, find another doctor who works with your insurance plan.

You're right, though. Doctors aren't perfect. And neither are we. In the articles below you can see the other side of the situation.


http://www.aarp.org/health/doctors-hospitals/info-12-2011/doctor-patient-complaints.print.html

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/26/dumb.doctors.office.ep/index.html

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/index-eng.php

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/03/doctors-care-patients.html

What I hate most about going to be the doctor is.......

Their inability to be honest to their patients about their own medical history as well as not being sensitive to the nature of the visit.

I am a endometriosis sufferer. I went to quite a few doctors before I found myself an gyn. My gyn lied to me for 10 years regarding my operative results and never once cared to learn more about the disease in order to help me , forced me on medications without ever explaining what they were (lupron depot) and consistant telling me my deliberating pains were all in my head.

Sorry so long. I hate going to any and all doctor's because of the anxiety of my past experience. Not to mention the waiting, I normally don't mind but now that I am paying to see a reproductive endocrinologist you have to pay more money to see the doctor for 10 mins.

after the nurse or assistant takes your vitals. then you have to wait in the little room for the doctor. most of the time you wait longer than you see the doctor.

The bill.

How bored I get waiting to be seen. There's been times when I've gone to a specialist and read the rest of my book. And the magazines. And even the advertorial magazines. One doctor I see every 2-4 months...If I make an appointment for 11 AM, I'm lucky to be seen by 1. I once made an appointment for 4:15 and didn't get home (10 min. drive) until almost 8...

Repeating myself..."ahh you remember you are the one who prescribed those meds right?"

Double billing starting with the doctor and ending with the laboratory.