Friday, September 24, 2010

Specifically For My Female Readers

Sorry guys...if there are still any of you out there reading this. This question is for my female readers.

How long do you have to wait for an appointment with your ob/gyn? And have you ever had to reschedule an appointment because your irregular period coincided with your original appointment? How long did you have to wait to reschedule?

My ob/gyn is one of a group of doctors in a women's clinic. She recommends that immediately after your appointment, you schedule your next yearly exam, which I did. Unfortunately, my period has a schedule of its own and I had to change my appointment because of it. My choices were to see my regular ob/gyn NEXT JULY (!) or to see the clinic's nurse practitioner on October 12.

I opted for the nurse practitioner because I can't wait until July to have my Boniva renewed or for my bone density scan to be done. Both of those are handled by my gynecologist.

I like my doctor and don't want to find a new one, but I think having to wait 8 months for an appointment is a little much.

Your thoughts?

7 comments:

Chitra said...

Totally agree. Can you get to see any other doctor in the practice?

I go in once a year too, just for my pap smear (had a scare few years ago and they want it tested every year now) and my prescription for BC patches. Sometimes I wait for 3 weeks, but if that is the case I will have them call the prescription for that one time, but haven't had to wait longer than that.

The Cookbook Junkie said...

I love my Ob/Gyn office. The last two times I called for appts, once for an annual and another time for something else, they offered me appts within the same week. When I had Dan, they never kept me waiting and I had a lot of appts with him since I was at an 'advanced maternal age' and had gestational diabetes. My old practice was a nightmare scheduled appts and getting seen on time. They acted like I had no choice but to put up with it but obviously I did.

Unknown said...

Oh sorry I'm no help, we just see GPs here for everything including smear tests and would only be referred to an ob/gyn if there were any problems. My doctor is a man and it doesn't really bother me so I get appts very quickly but I know it can be a bit of a wait for people who would rather have their checkups done by a woman.

Our NHS has to meet a five week deadline though so patients should be seen, tested, diagnosed and have a treatment plan in place within five weeks so a fortnight is considered a long time to wait for an initial consultation here.

We shouldn't really bitch about the NHS as much as we do, we're fairly spoilt really:)

Sheila said...

I had such problems for years before my hysterectomy that it was pretty easy for me to get appointments. They always just said if you start your period, just call us and we'll reschedule--but it was never months--it was more like a week or so. I'd probably schedule with the NP too but couldn't they call you if they have a cancellation? Of course, I was seeing military doctors so maybe it wasn't as busy a practice as yours is.

Jill said...

I was at a practice like this also, where appts were a year out if you tried scheduling. You always got different Drs and it was just like an assembly line. I recently switched and wow what a difference. The new place I was referred to has an office set up like someone's home. Pictures, a fireplace, candles, makes it very relaxing. I'm very happy I switched! You may want to check around. :-)

Have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Jill

Callista said...

usually if i have to re-schedule my appt with my yno, they will call my pharmacy to make sure i have enough of my script to last until my appt. you should see if theyll do that for you.

Alea Milham said...

So many ob/gyn's are stopping practicing because of lawsuits that there is a shortage and waiting time for an appointment can be outrageous. I have seen nurse practioners or visited my family doctor when the wait time is too long.