Waiting....

If I know it would take this long I would have done something different. How many times have we said that as we've waited for someone?

I started this blog as a required project for work, but the project is over and now I must apologize in advance as I think it is going to get a lot more editorial.
Every few month we get a printout of patient surveys. I must admit I rarely look at them anymore. I can usually identify those who made the most venomous comments, which fortunately are few. The old stand-by complaint, though, is wait time.

Now, I'm an OB. You'd think that pregnant women, of all people, would understand that babies come at random times. You'd think they should also understand, that if in the middle of the night, fear suddenly grips you about your unborn child, and you become somewhat irrational, that you will probably need a few additional minutes at your appointment, that was added into an already full schedule, to reassure you. Regardless of the other patients in the waiting room.
I'm not trying to say that all women are inpatient, in fact, there are probably just a scant few. But those few can sure complain a lot. I have also had 4 children myself and have spent many hours in the waiting room of my doctors office. I understand.

But today, I've felt the need to complain about how much time I spend waiting for my patients. I don't think you all realize how much of my time I waste waiting for you. I've currenlty been in the hospital, on my day off, a Saturday none-the -less, for 3 hours, waiting for someone to delivery. Fourth baby,thought it would go fast....the thought, "If I had known.." has crossed my mind many times. My children and husband are at home waiting to see what we can do today. I'm on call next weekend so this is the last day in 14 that I can do anything with them, and yet I'm here, waiting... I wait for patients to go to the bathroom (they didn't have time while they were in the waiting room I guess). I wait for them to call their husbands to help them make decision, I wait while they change their babies diaper, I wait for them to get off the phone, close their book, finish their magazine. I'm not trying to say that things should change, I just sometime wish I would get a survey on each patient. Rate on a scale of one to five, Was she nice? Did she seem concerned? Was she intellegent? Was she clean? Did she make you wait?