Author Charles Dickens once said, “I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.”

By Editor, Concierge Medicine Today

Sadly, when you walk into the exam room 45 minutes after you were supposed to, there’s not a lot of grace. Sure, there’s a great reason, but, there’s no excuse not to address the elephant in the room, you’re just plain late!

Most Physicians you and I know are in such a hurry that they skip over the apology for their lateness and move right into addressing the issue in the room.

Try this instead: Stop, deep breath, smile, acknowledge. Then get on with business.

“Be weird until the rest of the world catches up!” ~J. Acuff, Author

One final thought from a Physician on this topic when she told me … “Years ago, I once had a patient send me a bill for her time as I was running 90 minutes late. That’s the day I thought long and hard about my schedule made some leadership changes and shifts in my practice, and told myself, ‘Never again.’ Honestly, I was more ashamed than angry. She was right. I had disrespected her time. I valued my time as more important than hers and it was a chronic condition. As I said earlier, I’m occasionally late when I walk into the exam room. Sometimes, a true emergency happens, or an outlier event transpires. When it does happen, I try to give a very detailed account of why I was late to every Patient for the rest of the day, apologize profusely, asking forgiveness … which, by the way, not many Doctors do, and that’s the key ingredient to the process. Without it, you just piss people off. I then make sure the other person knows I’m sorry and that I take their time very seriously, and assure them it won’t happen again.”

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