What’s wrong with health care?

We’ll start with the number 1 complaint by patients
.

It may surprise you that health care’s most complained about problem is not expense, scheduling, staff rudeness, or poor communication (although all these issues made the top 10 list).

A survey by the company Software Advice found that a whopping 97% of the 5,000 patients surveyed said, “we get frustrated by having to wait in the provider’s exam rooms or in aptly-named waiting rooms”.

I have been a general surgeon for over 30 years so I can tell you that there will be emergencies/urgencies that intrude on the schedule but these tend to be the exception and not the rule. So what’s the reason for this nearly universal waiting?

I believe much of it comes from inefficiency and poor planning. When I started QuikSurg 6 years ago, I was frustrated with the overall direction of health care. It was continually moving away from the patient. I was determined to change that by setting a goal to have the surgeon be in the patient’s room within 5 minutes of their appointment time.

The “quick” in QuikSurg is not because we fly through procedures. I designed the clinic to be efficient in all things before and after the procedures. We planned everything from the patient information sheet (note: ONE sheet, not 10) to the set-up and sterilization of instruments to the post-op instructions.

It’s all about the patients. The one overriding question we always had to answer was, “how does this change in our system respect their time and schedule?”

Whether it’s the ER, the Urgent Care Center, or the doctor’s office, waiting is a very real problem that frustrates everyone. BTW, we are successful in our “5 minute rule” 95% of the time!