The thread in the nursing student forum about people who are always late got me thinking.
I am chronically early for everything. If I'm not 10 minutes early for an appointment, work, whatever, then I start to get anxiety. So I have a hard time relating to those who are temporally challenged. And I know that there are people who are ALWAYS late. I work with half a dozen providers, and one or two are like me (always there 15 minutes before start time), a couple get there right at start time, and there are 2 or 3 who are ALWAYS 10-20 minutes late for their first appointment of the session (and it drives me farking nuts, because the chronic late ones are my favorite providers and they ask me to go to lunch with them, and if I accept, then *I* will be late for my first appointment of the afternoon session, which is exactly what happened yesterday).
I know that sometimes it's just poor (or lack of) planning. But I've come to suspect that for some people, it's just part of their innate character, and that's what I want to try to understand better, so that I can better work with these people (and not show my intense annoyance). I really do think that sometimes, it's just beyond their control.
So for those of you who are temporally challenged, or love someone who is, help me understand what happens in their brains that make them this way, so I can be a more understanding coworker/supervisor.
Each and every time that I was made late for, or actually missed entirely, an appointment of mine, because the person supposedly relieving me did not feel it necessary to get to work on time because they don't think like me? Yes. You bet they don't think like me.
I WAS chronically late... when I worked at Target as soft-lines, customer service, or sales. I had been for other jobs in the past, and I NEVER saw the issue until one day, a manager at Target had a come to Jesus talk with me. It affects MY on the job performance.. even though customers like me, even though my team members like me...coming in to work late is a PROBLEM. It affects how the SYSTEM sees me. I don't care how little your lateness everyone else... it is a mark of either carelessness, ignorance, or a deeper and more problematical issue. I do what it TAKES now, and even THEN (when I worked at Target) to make it to work on time. For me, that means showing up 30 minutes to an hour early to just sit in my car, listen to my podcast (Daily Audio Bible :) ) Put on makeup, pray... Then I'll go in and review charts for awhile, just so I know that I'm FULLY prepared before I hit the floor. Yes... I put in time off the clock, but nursing for me is more than just a paycheck.
- WAS a chronically late person. Have done what it takes to fix it :)
Oh. Let's not forget the appointment I missed that caused me a $50 missed appointment fee. Yes, you are right. That person does not think like me, because if they did, I would not have had to pay $50 for their lack of consideration. They have the right to be as late as they want to and their employer allows them to get away with, but when it starts costing me money as well as sleep time, or just inconvenience, then they have sullied the workplace for a lot of us.
It's okay to not be ruled by the clock....up to a point. For me personally, if I'm making social plans with someone who I know is temporally challenged, and we agree to meet at 4, I will expect them closer to 4:30 or 5, and plan accordingly. No skin off my nose.
HOWEVER.....Likewise, a nurse who is expected to be clocked in and ready to receive report at 0700, in order to relieve the off-going nurse who has been working for 12 1/2 hours and is dead tired and ready to go to bed, and the oncoming nurse doesn't clock in until 0720, that likewise is a pretty big problem.
It is so much easier to adjust to someone being late for something social . . . thanks to smart phones, I can watch movies or play games while I wait. If they are late for dinner at my house, I hope they like cold food!
But not only is the nurse ready to leave at 0715 because of the reasons above, but also to get the kids off to school on time!
Some possible "medical" conditions for tardiness can be ADHD, Asperger's, and OCD, not to mention IBS. In my many decades, I've worked with, been friends with, and been roommates with friends suffering from these disorders and must admit, it sometimes amazes me they can even get out of the house.
Specializes in Medical Oncology, Alzheimer/dementia.
Some possible "medical" conditions for tardiness can be ADHD, Asperger's, and OCD, not to mention IBS. In my many decades, I've worked with, been friends with, and been roommates with friends suffering from these disorders and must admit, it sometimes amazes me they can even get out of the house.
@klone, How do the wait times impact patient satisfaction? Do patients complain about or leave the clinic because of the providers tardiness? If patients are completing satisfication surveys, are the results an incentive for providers to change their behaviour?
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
@klone, How do the wait times impact patient satisfaction? Do patients complain about or leave the clinic because of the providers tardiness? If patients are completing satisfication surveys, are the results an incentive for providers to change their behaviour?
A few complain. Sadly, most of our patients are uninsured, undocumented, and otherwise disenfranchised, and I think many of them feel like having to wait a long time for their appointment just goes with the territory.
We have one provider who routinely runs 30-60 minutes behind on her visits. The reason for that is because if the patient needs it, she will spend twice as long with her than the 20-minute slot allows. And for that reason, her patients love her and are willing to wait up to an hour past their appointment time in order to see her.
A few complain. Sadly, most of our patients are uninsured, undocumented, and otherwise disenfranchised, and I think many of them feel like having to wait a long time for their appointment just goes with the territory.
We have one provider who routinely runs 30-60 minutes behind on her visits. The reason for that is because if the patient needs it, she will spend twice as long with her than the 20-minute slot allows. And for that reason, her patients love her and are willing to wait up to an hour past their appointment time in order to see her.
As a patient, if I have a later appointment, I can understand the MD running late. When I did my annual visit with my Oncologist a couple months ago, I took the last appointment of the day and went into it expecting that he'd be running late. And, there are plenty of legitimate reasons why he may have been. Neuro-Oncologists often have to take longer than expected with a patient if the MRI shows recurrent or progressive disease. That I don't mind and I know that similar things can happen to me... when I walk into my first visit of the day and discover things that necessitate that I call Child Protective Services immediately, I'm going to get behind.
HOWEVER, when I have the first appointment of the day and the provider doesn't show up on time, I'm royally pissed by the time they do come in. I am not exaggerating, I once had one of the earlier appointments of the day (either 8 or 8:30) and the MD strolled in 2 hours late. When I kept asking what the hold-up was, the receptionist kept telling me that my MD was on-service for the inpatient service so was doing rounds up on the inpatient unit. WHY would you schedule said MD to see outpatients at 8am on the week that he is on service? That was so absurd. And when he finally came in, he said to me "you don't look too happy." Ya think? That was back when I worked in the hospital, so I had the whole day off. Nowadays I work Mon-Fri, I schedule my MD appointments at 8am to get them out of the way early and then start seeing my (home health) patients immediately after my appointment. If the MD is running late, it affects me and I'm not willing to wait longer than 20 minutes past my first appointment of the day for them. I don't have a problem telling the office that I need to reschedule because I have places to be and do not have time to wait. If I showed up to my appointment more than 20 minutes late, they'd make me reschedule.
I think there are some times when you are late for reasons beyond your control... for example, with the amount of snow we've had in New England over the past 3 weeks, the streets are absolute disasters. Many multi-lane roads are down to one lane because there is just too much snow. On Wednesday, it literally took me 2 hours to drive 6 miles. I was trying to get to a patient for 8am because the family had to go to the airport for a late morning flight. It was many people's first day back to work after staying home d/t snow on Monday and Tuesday and traffic simply wasn't moving. There was nothing I could do. There's no parking anywhere so I couldn't even abandon my car and start walking... because I seriously would have considered that as that would have been faster. It never in a million years would have occurred to me that I'd need to leave my house at 6am to get to her by 8am. Two days earlier when it had been snowing heavily, it only took me forty min to get there. I hate being late but that was beyond my control.
I have a friend who is always late. She has a job now that allows her to come and go as she pleases. But I remember a few years back she was working at a job that required her to arrive at 9. She was spoken to about her repeated tardiness and felt that it was unreasonable for them to expect her to be there by 9- she only lived 15 minutes away so she was leaving her house at 8:45. However, she had to park at an off-site location and take a shuttle bus to the site of her job, which added an extra 20-30 minutes to the process. When another friend and I suggested that she take that into account and leave earlier, she couldn't wrap her head around that suggestion.
I'm tardy a lot; I'm ashamed of myself every time I walk through the doors, and I beat myself up for it. I set 2 alarms and hit snooze for at least an hour every day. I just have a hard time getting up in the morning.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
If the MD is running late, it affects me and I'm not willing to wait longer than 20 minutes past my first appointment of the day for them. I don't have a problem telling the office that I need to reschedule because I have places to be and do not have time to wait. If I showed up to my appointment more than 20 minutes late, they'd make me reschedule.
Absolutely. We have a HUGE problem with patients being 20-30 minutes late for their appointments. Some of it is that many take public transit to get to their appointment. Some of it is, I am sure, cultural (many of our patients are Mexican immigrants, and from the time I've spent in Central America, I understand they put less import on adhering to a strict schedule than we do here in the US), and part of it is just a laissez faire attitude about the value of other people's time.
But what bothers me is the double standard - we hold our patients to an expectation of being on time for their appointments; I think the providers should be held to a similar standard.
One of the things I would change if I were Queen of The Facility.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
When another friend and I suggested that she take that into account and leave earlier, she couldn't wrap her head around that suggestion.
That's exactly what I'm talking about. As difficult it is for me to wrap my head around NOT being able to understand that, I suspect that people who are chronically tardy can't wrap their heads around what you suggested. That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out in this thread. I really think it's just a fundamental difference in how people's brains work.
That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out in this thread. I really think it's just a fundamental difference in how people's brains work.
I worked with someone who was eventually fired for tardiness. And I'm not talking 0705, 0707, etc. It was a good day for her if she got there by 0720. Despite a verbal warning and several written warnings, she never got better. I don't know what all her barriers were to getting there on time, but even with the threat of being fired, she still did not change. I couldn't figure it out, and you can count me in as someone who does not understand the mindset of someone who is chronically late and cannot improve their timeliness despite warnings and risk of termination.
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caliotter3
38,333 Posts
Each and every time that I was made late for, or actually missed entirely, an appointment of mine, because the person supposedly relieving me did not feel it necessary to get to work on time because they don't think like me? Yes. You bet they don't think like me.