Question

It is midday at a busy family practice clinic, two doctors are seeing patients today, you are the only person at the front desk; your coworker is at lunch.

The new patient that was scheduled at noon showed up 15 minutes late and still needs to complete the required paperwork before she can be checked in; she is on her lunch hour and worried that the appointment may exceed her lunchtime. The medical assistant asked you if the patient has arrived; the doctor is ready for them. What do you tell the medical assistant?

An established patient arrived on time for his 11:45 am appointment. It is now 12:15 he comes up to the front desk and starts complaining to you about having to wait and wants to know how much longer the wait it will be. How do you respond to this patient?

Answer 1

It is an essential thing for paper completion prior to doctor visit,a lack or delay in completing this and proceeding further can lead to a crisis situation when things goes wrong after a doctor visit.So it has to be informed to the medical assistant that there is a delay in paper completion and enquire whether the next patient can be sent or not.

The patient has to be informed genuinely about the reason for delay and what can be best done for them.

In this scenario the waiting patient can be sent for the visit mean while the paper works of new patient can be done and sent to the doctor next.