(The length of appointments varies between offices, but generally speaking.)
Assuming you arrive on time for your 20 minute appointment, half of that time gets utilized by the nurse or medical assistant to room you. No fault of theirs; they’re just doing their job. Now, your doctor has the same amount of time the nurse/MA did your vitals and stuff* to listen to your story and help you figure shit out**.
Sounds reasonable, right?
The truth is, your doctor is forced to ration their time and care between 3 to 4 humans every hour (sometimes more!). You don’t need full-on socialized medicine to experience rationing of healthcare in America.
Back to the Full List
Secret #2
* By “vitals and stuff,” I mean checking the patient’s height, weight, blood pressure, temperature, oxygen saturation, reconciling their medication/supplement list, updating their allergy list, collecting any new medical history updates, collecting the reason why they’re there, and checking to see if they’re missing any preventative screenings or vaccines.
** By “figure shit out,” I mean trying to keep the patient on track from a long-winded and tangential story, figure out what really needs to be addressed today, ask a bunch of clarifying questions, physically examine the patient as needed, instantly come up with a diagnosis and/or differential diagnoses (various other hypotheses that may be causing your symptoms), order any appropriate testing and prescriptions if needed (while cross referencing the med/allergy list for potential interactions), build a rocket ship, adjust and/or refill current meds if needed, explain all of this to the patient in an understandable way, cure world hunger, and answer more questions they may have. Then finish up the note and sign off on the visit. This is just the simplified version. Can you bake a 30 min cake in 10 minutes?
Share