likeable MD's who drive you nuts!

[3boysmom3]

There are 5 physicians in our clinic. They are all nice people (male and female) and I enjoy them. But oh my goodness- they can really throw a wrench in the works!!! One comes in late in the mornings and then proceeds to take plenty of time with each patient- the plenty of time with each patient part is fine, but the coming in late part really throws the entire day behind and we stay in terrible rush and chaos mode. Another tells people on the phone all day long to "come on in now" for any little thing. So people show up to be worked in, and the scheduled patients end up waiting so long because the schedule exploded. Or he'll be talking to someone on the phone and tell them to come on in, and it's already 4:30 and we close at 5:00. Etc., etc. These are lovely docs who really care about all their patients but while we nurses and schedulers are trying to keep some kind of order in a day, they come in and just wreck it! We have a very good working relationship that allows us to talk frankly to the docs and explain to them how (1) if the one would just come in on time and get started, and (2) the other one would tell patients to talk to the nurse or scheduler so that she can work them in at a time that will be least disruptive, we'd all be happier and so would our patients! But they just listen and smile patiently and nod and then keep doing things their way. We've finally learned that you can't teach an old dog new tricks (and these are "old" dogs!) but we love them anyway.