May 2005 – What kind of physician do you want, one who runs on time, or one who spends the time? You can’t have both:

A typical visit to a primary care physician’s office is allotted 15 minutes. Each physician session lasts 4 hours. Think about that. If the doctor merely spends 5 “extra” minutes with each patient, the last patient of the session will be over 1 hour late. Guaranteed.

Is that acceptable? It depends. Some will find going in and out of a visit in 5 minutes, but on time, to be satisfactory. Others will find waiting 1 hour for a doctor to spend 30 minutes on them to be just as satisfying.

The key as a patient is to find a physician whose view of the spectrum matches yours. Those patients who are unhappy are those who are matched with a doctor with a differing view of the spectrum.