Being Punctual

Before I get into the reason behind this post I should mention that I hate being late.  Subsequently I do whatever I can not to be late.  I prepare, look directions up ahead of time, etc.  So whenever people are late it irritates me.  It's a sign of immaturity, not caring, and being self centered.  Now I understand circumstances happen, but overall being late isn't something I tolerate well. 

I had two new patients show up 20 minutes late to their appointment yesterday and we asked both to reschedule.  One did reschedule, the other stormed out of the office mad.  I realize you may be thinking that 20 minutes isn't too late and asking what's the big deal?  I can tell you.

In medicine, especially primary care, we are increasingly asked to accomplish more in smaller time frames.  With that being said, it is imperative for people to arrive to their appointments on time for everything to work well.  My new patient appointments are 40 minutes long.  It takes approximately 10 minutes to go through the EPIC (our office's electronic medical system) check-in process for the first time.  Because of this we ask all new patients to arrive 10-15 minutes prior to their appointment.  I'd say one out of twenty new patients actually do this.  The overwhelming majority arrive right when their appointment is supposed to start.  We don't say anything in this circumstance and just accept that the appointment is going to start late.  But when you arrive 20 minutes past when your appointment is supposed to start (making them technically 30-35 minutes beyond when they were asked to arrive), add10 minutes to get through the EPIC check-in process, and another 3-5 minutes to get vitals and visit info, that gives me 5 minutes to get through an annual physical.  Not to mention that a lot of visits come with a "oh by the way" moment which tacks an additional 5 or more minutes onto the visit.  (I had a great example of this yesterday.  Guy comes in for a follow-up visit.  At the end of the appointment he decides to inform me that he has been having periodic chest pain that last several minutes.)

Showing up 20 minutes late to an appointment affects all parties involved negatively.  It's unfair to the patient for someone to have to rush through their preventative care in 5 minutes (not to mention impossible).  It's unfair to me to be forced to rush through the rest of the day just because someone decided not to show up on time.  It's unfair to my office staff who undoubtedly will have to stay late as the rest of the day we will be behind schedule.  It's unfair to the rest of the patients who actually show up on time to have to wait 40 minutes because now I'm behind. 

If something happens and you're going to be late all you have to do is call and reschedule.  It's as simple as that and this simple action will benefit everyone.  One thing I've learned in my job is that the average person is irresponsible and self-centered.  I can tell you one thing: I'm not going to drop what I'm doing and ruin the whole day just because someone decides to randomly show up.  If that makes me the bad guy then so be it.