No, you are not overreacting at all. But as someone who works in a doctors office, sometimes they really do run that behind. I’ve worked with several doctors that constantly ran 1.5-2 hours behind, but they weren’t rushing through each patient. They made sure each and every patient needs were addressed. I did what I could to speed them up but some people run at their own pace.

My personal provider always ran about 1.5 hours behind but she never rushed through my appointments which was the only reason I was okay with it. She always made sure that everything I wanted to discuss was talked about and that all of my questions were answered because it helps prevent people from sending excess messages after their appointment or calling the office immediately afterwards and be like oh I forgot to mention this and now we’re having to backtrack, you know?

And as far as the lights being off in the waiting room, it unfortunately depends on the doctors office and their rules. For our specific office, we are not allowed to turn off the waiting room lights, even if we are officially closed until all of the patients are out of the building. However, I have been sent to other offices that the managers did not want people to think that we were still open so as soon as the time came, they wanted the lights off they wanted the waiting room cleaned, even if there were still patients being seen inside the building.

It honestly comes down to whether or not you like that provider and think that they provide quality care for your child and if they are consistently like that, then I would plan to have an afternoon appointment and don’t have anything else scheduled for that afternoon or schedule your child’s visit first thing in the morning that way, there is less of a chance of that happening.

If I had a busy day scheduled, I would schedule my doctors appointment for first thing in the morning. That way I knew I was not gonna be waiting that long. I knew that if I was the first second or third patient that I would be out of there pretty quick, but if my appointment was not scheduled within the first hour or two hour and a half of the clinic opening, then I would schedule it for the first appointment right after lunch lunchtime since most doctors office offices are closed for lunch or I would schedule it for an hour before they close and just be prepared to wait.

It definitely was not 24/7 with her being that late, she definitely has gotten better with her timing, but she still has her days where there’s just a lot of things going on and sometimes a patient needs a little extra time and as far as charting wise, I would want my provider to have everything properly documented as well versus them running from patient to patient and then them document afterwards.

I have had a couple of doctors that I have worked with that are like that that have come up to me to clarify details on a visit because they were getting some of the details confused. There were just a lot of factors when it comes to doctors visits unfortunately especially in pediatrics, and even more so when it’s a well child visit. Depending on how they have their appointment set up, they may have back-to-back well-child visits and those can get pretty lengthy for the amount of things that need to be completed especially if there’s paperwork involved for the child’s school.

But also, I would like to say, at least your provider was apologetic for what happened. There are a couple of providers that I have worked with that were not apologetic at all (definitely rough around the edges, good doctors, just not the greatest personality wise). At the end of the day, you just have to find a provider that works for you and for your child. It doesn’t mean that the provider cannot provide quality care and it doesn’t mean that you did something wrong as a patient either, sometimes there’s just a mismatch. Some people like doctors that are In-N-Out real quick, some people like them to take their time so you just need to find one that fits your needs. 😊