We frequently have people calling asking to speak to the doctor by his first name, therefore, they must be best buds from waaaay back.  We tell them that the doctor is with a patient, and their response is, “oh, have him call me, he knows me“, or  I need to talk to him about a medical problem, or sometimes a personal issue.  It almost always gets turned back over to us to schedule an appointment, which should have been done in the first place to avoid taking up the doctor’s valuable time, but these “friends” seem to think they deserve preferential treatment.

The truth of the matter is that the doctor doesn’t know half these people, and even if he did, barring an emergency, he would not get them in any sooner than anyone else.  A patient came in this afternoon (after missing an appointment this morning), and was irate because she was told we would go ahead and see her but we would have to work her in, therefore, we didn’t know how long it would take.  She asked us to please go back and tell the doctor “who it was” and ask him how long it would take!  Guess what, pushy patient?  The doctor said we had no idea, we would do the best we could.   Not only that, but she asked it in front of a roomful of patients who were waiting.  I guess she expected us to tell all the other patients that Mrs. So and So didn’t like to wait, therefore, since she “knows” the doctor, we’ll be seeing her ahead of all of  you.

We all deal with these issues every day, and of course, we know that, in order to have a successful practice, we need to be professional and courteous in our interactions with patients.  We need to firmly and politely tell these patients that the doctor is busy at the moment with another patient, and that we will gladly make an appointment and we can have him call them at the end of the day if they feel it’s necessary.  The doctor sometimes seems to be afraid to say no to his friends also, so sometimes it’s up to us to run interference for him.  Always remember though…keep your cool, and be professional.  Your office depends on you, and rude behavior from the office staff can cause a pretty nasty reputation!