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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
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