Skip to main content

Thoughts from the Doctor's Office

I went to the doctor today, nothing serious, just needing a little check up and prescription. Anyway, I had two thoughts that came to mind, and I think I can apply them to the association world.

1) There was a magazine among the usual suspects in the waiting room, called Garden and Gun. What? Excuse me? Where is Fish and Bicycle? Two seemingly unrelated things in one magazine. Why? It has a subhead, which mentions something about the South. Ah-ha. Garden for the women. Guns for the men. A magazine that both can enjoy (part of).

Could you do that in your association? Put two seemingly different items together to reach a broader audience? Maybe someone won't come for just one, but if there was a second thing, even something they were only remotely interested in, would it be the clincher?

2) I waited at least 30 minutes before I was seen. That is 30 minutes after my appointment time. Why do they make appointments then? There were 4-5 other people waiting with me. The killer was that during my 1 hour total visit, I saw at least 5 drug reps visit. There may have been more that I missed during my 10 minutes in the exam room. 5 in one hour. Does that happen all day? If so, when does the doc see anyone? (I think he is a one man shop.) Oh wait, that is why we all have to wait so long. He has twice as many appointments - his patients and his drug reps.

Associations - be sure you know who your real customer is. Know who can wait and why you are really there. That may be my last visit to that doctor.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Doctors have long waits. This is a fact, but if you have questions to ask the doctor, he should be able to answer all of them. Even if it takes much longer than anticipated. Unlike other professions that get paid by the hour, doctors have to give you as much time as you need to diagnose and treat. If the average patient takes 15minutes to see a doctor, and he books appointments one after another at that average, what happens when a patient takes 30min to an hour of the doctors time.... everyone else gets pushed back. Keep in mind that most physicians get paid very little for an office visit or a consult, and in order to stay in business they have to make sure a certain amount of patients get seen per day... this leads to double booking. A doctor that has no wait to be seen might not be the best doctor... maybe he isnt following his patients close enough to generate visits. By the way.. I am not a physician, just a more understanding patient.
April 15, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Apathy vs. Lack of Proper Training

I, like many, worked at a grocery store in high school. First a bagger, then a cashier, then the produce department. Each job required training on how to do it. I usually spent several shifts shadowing someone, then several on my own but with supervision. This method seemed to work just fine. I see it employed places other than the grocery store. Lately, I have been amazed at how poorly grocery bags are packed by store employees. I know that you have to adjust to the bag type, cloth or plastic these days, but I can't tell if the employees are lazy or just didn't get proper training. I even go as far as emptying my cart strategically to try to help - put all the cold stuff together, bread and eggs last so they can go on top, etc. But it doesn't seem to matter. I think there is a fine line between apathy and lack of training, at least trying to identify which situation it is. Anyone have any great ideas for identifing and then fixing either situation?
2 comments
Read more

I have a new job

I am so very excited to announce that as of Oct. 13, I will be the new Executive Director of the Arlington Soccer Association . This is the perfect opportunity for my to combine my work experience and my education (I have a Masters in Sports Administration) with one of my true passions, soccer. I played in college and still play several times a week (which may change since I will most likely be a touch busier.) I still plan on writing this blog. My guess is that you will see the topics change slightly to focus less on membership and more on overall association management areas. Thank you to all who have helped me along the way. I don't want to list names for fear of leaving anyone out, because Lord knows there are a lot. Wish me luck!
7 comments
Read more

10 Thoughts on #ASAE10

Ok, so I could have spelled out the title, but chose the hashtag - #asae10. Supposedly there were over 8,000 tweets with the hashtag, but probably countless more direct messages of messages that left out the hashtag but were conference related. Two years ago, we were using twitter as a backchannel to talk about speakers. Now, over 800 people sent conference related tweets. If you aren't on Twitter, you are already late to the party. Anyway, on with the post... In no particular order, my thoughts on this years ASAE Annual Conference: 1. LA was a good venue. Lots to do. Hotels close by. Only downside was the rooms were a bit of a hike. 2. I missed Sunday because of family obligations. That really put me behind the 8 ball. Since I led a session, that meant I only got to go to 3 true sessions. Sorry, I don't count Joy Behar and the closing session. Although Marshall Goldsmith was good, I probably wouldn't have gone to see that speech as a Learning Lab. 3. Based on #
11 comments
Read more