Doctor's office waiting rooms—why aren’t they more customer friendly?
I see some of the best doctors in my area. They’re renowned for what they do.
So why are the waiting areas so ghetto?
Right now, I’m in a waiting room where people wait for their eyes to be dilated (yep, another retinopathy check). There's a bunch of chairs facing a big television screen where there’s always some earnest historical show or slow moving travelogue that’s mind-numbing. And with the eye dilation business, it's not like you can read while waiting for your pupils to expand.
I brought my laptop, as I do whenever I know I’ll have time to kill. And not for lack of trying, but there’s no free Internet connection for me to surf onto. And I’m sitting in the middle of a thriving metropolis.
Of course, there are password-protected networks, and heaven forbid I get the password of the office's network because you know I could wreak havoc with patient records. (Please. I've got such better things to do online.) I just want to be able to check my email, surf the Internet, and catch up on work while I sit and wait. And wait.
Mister Lyrehca is seeing a doctor this week and I will need to sit in the office’s waiting room for at least two hours while he’s seen. I just called ahead to try to find out if this location happens to be in an area where I can get to the Internet on my laptop while I wait.
The administrator who answered the phone clearly had no clue what to tell me and told me so. Her coworker overheard her talking and seemed to yell over that “sometimes you can connect, and sometimes you can’t.”
Great.
Why don’t offices like these have wireless free Internet access for those of us in the 21st century who want to work virtually?
Seriously, it's 2009. The Internet and email aren’t going anywhere. And I shouldn’t have to spend more of my hard-earned dollars for a Crackberry or some other mobile device for me to be able to connect wireless when I already have a great laptop and Internet capabitlity right at my fingertips?
Why are these doctor’s offices stuck on a virtual dirt road when it comes to waiting room services?
6 comments:
I have a Crackberry so I never really thought of it, but if they had free wireless and I knew I had to wait, I'd totally bring my laptop. The ophthalmologist's office is a killer though. Even if I could get on my laptop, I can't imagine that I'd be able to read anything. That's just an hour of boring no matter what amenities are available.
I often why they have video playing while all of us are dilated and blind! I keep my eyes shut but some ghetto music would do! LOL
This hasn't occurred to me, about the internet. Mostly what I've noticed is they all have TVs in there now with medicine ads. Yuck.
I am lucky, my gp's office where I spend most of my time gave me access to their wireless. It also helps that one of my good friends does his computer system as well as one of his patients. I am also going to be having a baby soon and the hospital I am delivering at has free wifi for their patients and encourages you to bring your laptop. Check into getting a wireless air card through your cell phone provider, then you will have internet anyplace you can get a cell signal.
Totally agree! We spend SO MUCH time at these places that they should think of "little" things like this!
Thank goodness my hospital now has wireless access pretty much everywhere I've tried...I resent all the hours spent waiting much less if I can still do work and stay on top of things. Hopefully your hospital system follows suit soon!
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