Everyone in this office seemed unhappy - patients and staff alike. I understand the patients' displeasure...
Front desk staff treat patients like cattle. Far more important than even attempting the pleasantries like a friendly (even if fake) ""Good afternoon,"" or two-syllable, ""Hello,"" and maybe a half-smile is the business of insurance/money. My greeting was a cold, ""Hi. What insurance do you have?"" (The patient approaching the desk after me didn't even get a ""Hi."")
Perhaps the employees at the front desk were so unhappy because the dentist was running late, and they knew what kind of afternoon they were about to have. I asked, at one point during my wait, how much longer it might be until I see the dentist. The response was, 'I'm not sure. He just got here.' (That was 40 minutes past my scheduled appt.)
As part of their paperwork, you are asked to sign acknowledgement of their cancellation policy which basically tells you that if you cancel with less than two days' notice (for oral surgery), you will be charged a fee and can be charged the lost ""chair time"".
Understandable, but how do patients recover their lost work or time to fulfill other obligations when the provider is running an hour or more late? They don't. The most one might get is an apology for their being inconvenienced, however no apology was rendered.
(If you're familiar with Seinfeld... remember the Costanza/chiropractor episode?)
The appointment itself wasn't worth the long, hot wait (the waiting room swelters while the back is extremely cool), or the frustration.
********************************
Hoping Daniel Traub & staff take interest in their patient reviews... If you're reading this, here's something to think about...
Let's say it's 2:20. Patient X just checked in for a 2:40 appointment and retreated to the atrium to wait because the waiting room is at full capacity. (Everyone already waiting heard him announce his scheduled appt.)
Let's also say my appointment was at 2, there were two patients ahead of me in the waiting room when I arrived, and several others checked in after me.
Now, it's 2:25, and an employee walks past everyone in the waiting room, opens the door and calls into the atrium the name of Patient X.
When there are so many patients in your waiting room that they've begun to spill into the atrium, you may wish to be more mindful of the fact that everyone in the waiting room is naturally going to be put off when a dental assistant/tech/hygienist goes to the atrium at 2:25 to get the guy who just got there for a 2:40.
If the dds, or someone else with authority, gave instructions specifically to see patient X, who only just arrived, and no one has the sense or confidence to speak up about the waiting order -- might I suggest that you at least take one or two other patients just before, or even at the same time, who've been waiting excessively, to the back and set them up in your cul de sac of partitioned dental chairs.
more