When it comes to scheduling doctor’s appointments, it is an extremely difficult process. Doctors’ schedules have become hectic with the increase in people who need health care, tending to be overbooked, which causes patients to reschedule their appointments to different times and even different days. 

At Antioch Community High School, it is the main priority of nurse Lisa McKavis to provide healthcare for the faculty and students. Even though booking appointments outside of school is slim due to too many consultations, McKavis’ door is always open—except when someone else already needs her attention.

“The main priority is providing medical care to students and staff,” McKavis said. “There is medication to be dispersed and annual state reports to be filed at different times of the year. I counsel students and staff if the need arises and work very closely with the counselors and social workers in areas of mental health.”

Being a nurse is a very time-consuming and meticulous job that can lead to a super busy day, which may cause nurses and doctors to feel overworked. The shortage of healthcare workers is not only because of the high demand for work but because of the pay wage. 

“It is a high burnout field, and often newer nurses entering a position for the first time will be offered a higher salary than those that have been there for a while,” McKavis said.

With newer healthcare workers getting high-paying jobs, the more experienced healthcare workers are leaving because they are not paid fairly for their work.

Insurance is another factor that is making it hard to schedule appointments. Different providers and specialists take different insurances meaning that not every insurance company is accepted at certain offices. This makes it harder for people to find a doctor’s office that will take their insurance. This can cause some people to be forced to drive further to find a doctor’s office that will take their insurance, this in turn could make their visit cost more.

According to an article by Partner MD, doctors tend to overbook because they want to care for as many people as possible; overbooked doctors add wait time for patients. Doctors are constantly rushing to get from one patient to the other, trying to make do with the insufficient time they have. While doctors are scrambling to get to the next patient, it can lead to underwhelming care for the patient due to working as fast and efficiently as possible.

Scheduling a doctor’s appointment has become hard over the past years due to the recent increase in people who need care. The advancement of people needing to be cared for has risen because of the population increase with the simultaneous COVID-19. The hunt to find new doctors and nurses is becoming more and more urgent. Despite the amount of applicants to med schools increasing, there is still an alarming shortage in doctors and nurses.

When trying to schedule a doctor’s appointment, think about the amount of pressure and work the doctors are already going through before getting frustrated with the struggles of trying to schedule an appointment.