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> I can only imagine that there are doctors out there making sure every other practice has negative reviews. Then your imagination is limited. It's more a fun

> I can only imagine that there are doctors out there making sure every other practice has negative reviews. Then your imagination is limited. It's more a function of the entire medical experience. Sick people are grouchy. Busy places with waiting rooms make people grouchier. Few doctors provide immediate relief, which means their patients often leave just as grouchy. And upset customers are drastically more likely to leave reviews than satisfied customers. It's just the nature of the business.

XorNot 11y ago
Also people are always upset when they visit the doctor. Because the vast majority of people will get told "you need to change your diet and exercise more" and that is not what people want to hear. People (including doctors with regards to themselves) are terrible at judging health outcomes that don't involve a transition from "I'm going to die" to "now I will live" - the biggest predictor of patient opinion of the quality of their medical care in a hospital, for example, was always how nice the room was.
mazelife 11y ago
In addition, the realities of managed care and reimbursement rates mean that--for many types of practices--doctors have to see a pretty large volume of patients every day to be able to stay afloat. No doctor I've talked to likes this state of affairs, but it's a reality. This leads to dissatisfaction because patients feel that their doctor is rushing through the appointment without giving them adequate time. It doesn't necessarily mean they're getting substandard care, but it's also reasonable to feel angry or annoyed by that kind of interaction. Conversely, many practices will do everything they can to maximize physician utilization, including scheduling lots of back-to-back appointments. Inevitably, if a doctor is actually doing a good job, some visits will uncover more complex health issues than planned and require more than the 15 or 30 minute allotted to address. This means that appointments start to back up, people start having long wait times to see their doctor, and patient dissatisfaction ensues. Again, this isn't a problem with individual doctors or practices-- although it may seem that way to patients--it's systemic.

XorNot 11y ago

Also people are always upset when they visit the doctor. Because the vast majority of people will get told "you need to change your diet and exercise more" and that is not what people want to hear. People (including doctors with regards to themselves) are terrible at judging health outcomes that don't involve a transition from "I'm going to die" to "now I will live" - the biggest predictor of patient opinion of the quality of their medical care in a hospital, for example, was always how nice the room was.

mazelife 11y ago

In addition, the realities of managed care and reimbursement rates mean that--for many types of practices--doctors have to see a pretty large volume of patients every day to be able to stay afloat. No doctor I've talked to likes this state of affairs, but it's a reality. This leads to dissatisfaction because patients feel that their doctor is rushing through the appointment without giving them adequate time. It doesn't necessarily mean they're getting substandard care, but it's also reasonable to feel angry or annoyed by that kind of interaction. Conversely, many practices will do everything they can to maximize physician utilization, including scheduling lots of back-to-back appointments. Inevitably, if a doctor is actually doing a good job, some visits will uncover more complex health issues than planned and require more than the 15 or 30 minute allotted to address. This means that appointments start to back up, people start having long wait times to see their doctor, and patient dissatisfaction ensues. Again, this isn't a problem with individual doctors or practices-- although it may seem that way to patients--it's systemic.