About How Long Is a Dr.s Visit Supposed to Take???

i laughed when one of the responses started out with "unless you go to a military clinic"...my husband is in the military and before they changed the rules here (now since we live on base we HAVE to go to the military clinics) i used to take my son to an office out in town. the wait time was NEVER more than 15 minutes. also, my sister's husband is the office manager for a pediatrician in st pete, and when i asked her she said their patients never wait long either. unless this doctor is fantastic, i'd look for a new pediatrician.

Wow A.!! What doctor are you going to? I have a 4 month old and I've been to Dr. Baldwin and Dr. Nirmul. They have never taken that long. I have switched her doctor so mant times because of her insurance changing and I just don't care for the other doc. Her new doc will be Dr. Kamisetty. I hope this isn't the doctor you go to. All of these doctors are located in brandon by the way. I would switch doctors if it's to much of a hassle unless you really like this doctor of course. It sounds like maybe he or she has to much to handle. Well please get back to me and let me know if any of the doctors I've mentioned could be the one your refering to. Good luck.

It takes about 2 hours for us and the time in there with the dr is about 15 minutes we wait abour 30 minutes for the nurse to do her thing than another 30 minutes for the dr after that! that doesnt count the waiting in the waiting room, its rediculous!

I can sympathize with you... My ped is hit or miss with that. I have had to wait over an hour past my appointment time before or have just waited 5 minutes in the waiting room. Now, I tend to book my ped appointments WAY in advance so that I can get a Saturday morning appointment where it is not as busy and we are more likely not to have to wait so long. As my son gets older, I am sure that it will be harder to manage a long wait in a doctor's office. My OB was HORRIBLE about that. It seemed that over 75% of the time, I was waiting almost an hour past the appointment time to see the doctor. I understand that emergencies happen, but when it is consistent, then the office is just poorly managed. Now with a small child and a full-time job, I just flat-out don't have time for that nonsense. My time is important too!

I sympathize with you!

My old doctor in Sarasota had a waiting time of less then 5 minutes. He is an EXCELLENT doctor and really well organized office. They were never overbooked.

Since we have now moved to Tampa I tried the Healthpoint on N Dale Mabry and they were pathetic. We might be spoilt but how anyone expects an 18 month old to sit still and wait is beyond my reasoning.

Now I am going back to Sarasota. I would rather travel an hour then sit in an overstuffed germy waiting room.

When an office is that poorly run I think it has to reflect on the care given.

Hi A. -

Unless you're going to a military clinic, that long of a wait is definitely not normal. My husband and I were talking about this very topic yesterday because he had an appointment that lasted all but literally FIVE minutes, but he had to wait for nearly FORTY-FIVE minutes total in the lobby and then in the examination room. I personally feel that physicians today are taking on too many patients, and therefore are not giving their existing patients the attention they deserve. Sometimes I wonder why doctors' offices don't just have turnstiles to manage the traffic flow.

Blessings to you and yours.

A.,
I went this morning for my son's 9 month check up and I waited for 5 minutes in the waiting room. The nurse took me to a room and gathered his feeding/sleeping info. The doctor was in a couple minutes after she finished. The nurse finished with his shots. Total visit time = 35 minutes. I think in all depends on how efficiently the office is run - and whether or not the doctor is running behind. I know emergency visits will sometimes set their schedule back. I would discuss this with your pediatrician - maybe there is a better time of the day to schedule your visits (first appt. of the morning or right when they get back from their lunch break) Best of Luck!
J.

UMMMM I would change clinics. I take my children to Watson Clinic and we are in and out within 1/2 hour. 1 1/2 hours with a child in a waiting room is insane. You may want to talk to the pediatrician there and voice your concerns.

That is way too long. I can tell you the problem because I used to work in a doctors office like that. What hey do is they double book the day so they make more money and also so if someone cancels there is still someone else coming in. That can be a real pain in the butt. But if you like the office that much, what csn you do. D.

I have to agree here...It sounds like an overbooked office, or a slow doctor. I actually recently changed doctors for this reason. I just dont have the time to wait an over an hour for them. I understand that once in a while this may happen due to what some patients could be there for and emergencies and such...but It was happening to me every time. I would switch to another ped. I know its so great having them down the street, but it might as well be 10 miles away with the wait. *hugz*

It's like that at my son's ped. as well. Sad thing is his doctor and me have kids 2 weeks apart and she is leaving the practice to go work at a hospy with less hours. There a 4 doctors in the practice and another knows my son I switched too. It usaully takes 1 hour or more because I do afternoon apts. so my hubby can come. I feel for you hun. Our little babies are worth the wait though!

mine are like that most of the time too.the best advice i can give is to try to get the first appt. of the day,that way they aren't running behind yet and you are usually in and out rather quickly.if you can't get that early morning appt.,the next best is the first one after lunch.also try to schedule the appts. as early as possible.if she needs to be seen in three months try to make sure and schule 1 1/2 months in advance.it makes it easier to get your choice of times.also try not to go on a monday.they are the worst usually because all the kids that were sick over the weekend wanna get seen then.gets backed up pretty quickly!hope this helps!

Sounds like you found a slow office or an overbooked office. Appts shouldn't take that long - since it is 99% waiting it sounds like from your post. Either bare with it or find a new doctor. My doctor (not my sons) used to be about a 2 hour total visit - 99% wait time because the doctor just moved so slow between patients. With 3 kids and a busy schedule that was not ideal for me and I found a new doctor! Good luck!!

You must go to Mandarin Ped!!! When I was going to Mandarin Pediatrics (or OceanSide on call) I would wait for hours...with sick babies...I mean one time I sat for 3 hours with two kids under 18 mos running fevers...only to be told I would have to sit through there lunch time before I could be seen. I have recently switched to one closer to my house but also a more personal office. The doc is great and he is taking on a few more for when the office gets busy. I would say yes and no this is normal but if your office is starting to feel like a cattle call its time to look for a new one.

With my daughter's old pediatrian we only had a 10-15min wait but we moved an hour away and started going to a new pediatcian. She is great but only works part time and we have had over 2 hr waits. She is always over booked but she also spends a lot of time with you. We spent close to 30 minutes with her on some visits. I am thinking about switching pediatricians not because I don't think she is good but because it is really hard to entertain a sick child for 2 hrs, plus I have to miss a lot more work and we have a second child on the way. I have spoken to numerous people and none of them have as long waits with their pediatricians. I even tried to schedule the first available appt with our doctor so we wouldn't have to wait and she showed up 40 minutes late with her hair all wet and she didn't bother calling the office to let us know or apologize for being late. She has done that on numerous occasions so being first doesn't even help. I would consider finding a new doctor, ask friends, neighboors or people you or your husband work with for referrals because if you have that long of a wait then the short drive really doesn't matter you would be better off driving 30 minutes and being seen within 15 minutes. Good luck because I am going through the same situation, it is just difficult to meet with pediatricians when I'm working.