Getting in a little faster
One of the biggest complaints about orthopedics and healthcare in general is the amount of time it takes to get in for an appointment. Lots of times even really large health systems are booking out a month or two in advance. While the practice will try its absolute best to get you in the office in a timely manner sometimes there are just not enough appointments. With that being said there are some insider tips and tricks to help get in a little bit quicker. These tips and tricks are also good for making your time in orthopedics quick and efficient.
Tips and Tricks
- If the ortho office has their own Urgent Care, Use it! There are some larger systems that have what we call Orthopedic Urgent Care’s. These are specialized urgent cares that focus on ortho needs. They are typically staffed with people who focus on orthopedic care and have a better understanding when compared to your regular urgent care. This means they will usually get the right tests you need and have a better grasp on your follow-up care. These specialized urgent cares also usually have direct access to the rest of the orthopedic department. Using this system you can skip the referral waiting game and expedite or streamline care.
- Keep it all in house. While it may seem quicker and possibly cheaper to get and MRI or other imaging at another location, you can actually add stress and time to your care by going outside of the system in which you indented on continuing care with. Each health care system is its own entity which means that they might use different systems for electronic medicals records or EMR’s. These EMR based systems can make it challenging to hop from place to place. Over time this can cause delayed care due to records and images getting stuck between systems.
- Get your images on a disc. If you are going to go outside the orthopedic office for your MRI or CT or other images please please please just get them on a disc. One of the hardest things is trying to figure out where you got your images from and if the place you got your images works with the ortho office. I have seen so many peoples appointments canceled or moved because they didn’t know they needed a disc with their radiology images on it and now they are stuck. A good rule of thumb if your not getting the images done at the same place as your orthopedic provider just get the images put on a disc. P.S. if you already have your images on a disc this also makes getting a second opinion much easier!
- Ask to be put on the cancelation or waitlist. This one is pretty simple, if and when the team calls you to make your orthopedic appointment simply request that you be put on a waitlist. This way if your provider adds a day of clinic time or someone else falls off their schedule you may receive a call to move up your appointment.
- Call Often. Even though offices have that wait or cancelation list sometimes they don’t use it, or there are so many people on that list that your appointment may not be affected. Because of this I would suggest calling the office every now and then to see if they have any earlier appointments.
- Be Flexible. Orthopedic offices are very busy. Often times schedules overlap and providers are only in on certain days. This is especially true with surgeons who also have to work in full surgery days. If you are flexible on who you are seeing in the office you might be able to get in a little faster. Obviously if you have already seen a surgeon or had surgery you need to continue with that team for continuity of care.
- BE NICE. There are thousands of people calling orthopedic offices around the country and most of them are in pain, stressed, and worried about this means that most of the people we talk to on the phone are rude and angry. Be the nice person. Ask the phone nurse how their day is, and don’t belittle or yell at them for something they can’t control. It will get you a long ways!
I know it can be frustrating to wait for an appointment while you are in pain. It is my hope that some of these small tips and tricks will help you get into the orthopedic office a little bit faster. Remember to always be nice, none of us are out trying to make you suffer we are all just trying to do our best.