Patients often complain of long waits while seeing the doctor. Physicians are to blame for much this, as many are just not terribly efficient.
Joshua Schwimmer’s The Efficient MD offers some good tips for doctors to get more things done.
I also highly recommend reading this post on primary care time-wasters (via The Happy Hospitalist).
With primary care schedules maxed out, physicians are caught between the dilemma of seeing more patients and being on-time. Surviving this environment means delegating tasks to nurses and medical assistants, minimizing non-compensated work, and maximizing your time only on face-to-face patient visits.
Admittedly, some doctors – specifically those of generations past – may not be comfortable adopting some of these ideas. But in order to survive the business-like environment of American primary care, and still have a life outside the office, there often is no choice.
