Had this happen once. I arrived without an appointment about an hour before the office closed. They allowed me in and took me into an exam room to wait for the doctor. After nearly an hour, I went to look and see what was happening. The staff were in the process of closing up for the day. They had literally forgotten I was in there.

Couple of years ago, I went to an orthopedic clinic with a torn ligament. They tell me to lay down in one of the rooms. An hour passes. Suddenly, the lights in the room and adjacent hallway turn off. They dead-ass forgot me in there and were about to call it a day when I popped my head out.

Had this just over a month ago. I went down to accident and emergency just before 12 am on a Saturday (also know as the emergency department) as I was having really bad cramps because of my IBD (ulcerative colitis) I got triaged within an hour and had blood tests done within an hour after. Only saw a Dr after 7 or 8 in the morning and then was with her an hour at most, went for an X-ray and then had to sit for maybe another 5-6 hours to find out the results of a blood test that they do at the hospital. They were thinking of admitting me to hospital but we're waiting on the blood results so it's not as if me just going home was going to help myself.

While I sat waiting on the Dr the last time, I went and asked twice because I hadn't had word for hours. I also didn't have anything to eat for 24 hours as I didn't have an evening meal and I couldn't use a vending machine as I had no cash or card as I don't think I would be there 16 hours.

Kinda related...

I know why I'm seeing the doctor, my dog doesn't understand why he needs to see the vet. When you tell us to go in the room don't make us wait for fuck's sake, the last time my dog looked like he was trying to escape through the ventilation grill in the ceiling and he pissed and shat on the examination table because he had been building anxiety for 20 minutes!

20 minutes, then assuming there's a closed door, I'll just leave the door open

If 10 more minutes pass I'm popping my head out and asking for a potential estimate. If I get to 45 minutes and nobody has spoken to me I'm out, and will be quite irritated upon rescheduling. By that point I've been there for over an hour and unlike everyone whose taking their sweet time, I'm not being paid to be there.

I've watched too many nurses, doctors, and random medical staff just stand around talking outside patient rooms about the latest gossip to believe they're running behind on appointments anymore. The local network schedules in 20 minute blocks, and I've NEVER had a single appointment face to face with a doctor for more than 10. Usually less than 5 unless there's something majorly wrong. And despite "privacy" of separate rooms, I can hear surrounding rooms taking just as long.

I'm probably being too cynical and harsh, but after almost dying because the asshole who examined me dismissed EXTREMELY obvious signs because "you probably just need to lose weight" I've retained less and less patience with local medical staff. And the next closest office/network that will accept my insurance is almost an hour away. So yeah.

How do you even know how much time has passed in the exam room? There's no windows or clocks. It's like a shitty casino.

My dentist just does this. End of appointment she walks out. No “that’ll be all for you today” or “schedule your next appointment at the counter”

Anyway 10 minutes.

An hour? But, I'm easily entertained by my devices and probably wouldn't notice the time going by. It also heavily depends on what else I have going on; I always pad my schedule for doctors, but even so, there might be something else I have to get to.

It's medical. The person before me may have needed more time. I think doctors have a harder time than most estimating how much time a patient will need, and I don't want them rushing me out the door.

Unless you're Abed Nadir

Conversely, you really don't want to be getting seen promptly at a hospital. Ideally you want to be in the middle third of the priority order; get seen reasonably quickly, but not "holy shit you are going to die if we don't deal with you now" quickly

I know, at least for younger me, it was above 2 hours. I had a bunch of exams, and people were leading me to different rooms. After an x-ray:

-- wait here and we will get you if we want another picture

like two hours pass, and someone comes in the door:

-- oh, there you are, come on, next exam

I once fell asleep while wearing the paper gown at the gynecologist’s. I don’t know how long I waited, but I had a really nice nap and they were super apologetic when I woke up and popped my head out.

My wife once sat in the room for a very long time before someone came to prep the room for the next patient...

If I'm just there for a checkup I'm walking out after an hour. If I'm legitimately sick I'll probably sit there all day until someone gives me medicine lol

There really is no justification for it. It's part of the American healthcare experience. It makes them money to have no downtime between patients. It costs them nothing to make you wait. They book patient appointments with this philosophy in mind and it's incredibly disrespectful.

At 35 minutes I ask them if they'd accept me being 35 minutes late to the appointment, or would they just consider it a no show

Could be a sign they intend to admit you and don't have any beds available yet

I just start looking for neat shit I can steal for my backpacking first aid kit.

30 min, and if it happened more than once I'd change doctors and 1 star them. Get your shit together.

At what point do you start filling pockets with random things?

Ive been to the emergency room on a Friday night in Norway (legevakt). It's about 5 hours. It was fine, it wasn't appendicitis after all.

Seriously tho. Why even bring me in the room if you're gonna take 45 min to get to me. Those rooms are cold, I'd rather be in the waiting room tbh.

At least an hour and 45 minutes... cause that's the longest I've been forgotten in the exam room. But I never peeked my head out or asked, I just kinda waited.

I don't know how much longer I would've waited without finally saying something... so yeah, seven hours seems reasonable to me

I have this really bad problem I have to work very hard to get over when I am at a doctor- I have this need for the doctor to be pleased with me and not disappointed in what I have to say, so I find myself telling the doctor what I think they want to hear before correcting myself and saying the truth. It's like I think the doctor will hate me if I have the wrong symptoms. I don't know why.