On Waiting and Culture

My son and I recently had two clinic appointments at the same hospital on the same day. I was struck by the cultural differences across each clinic. As you make clear in your article, these trips to the hospital are taxing on families: many commute from outside of the city, comprising hours of travel; work and school is missed; the logistics of backfilling childcare and daily obligations; and so on.

In one case, the clinic bent over backwards to accommodate our challenges. They rescheduled the appointment to remove the need to travel twice. They coordinated our care over email and after-hours, and met with us over lunch. As I thanked them, they brushed it off as a simple matter of priority. They empathized with the needs of families.

In the other, we were left waiting over two hours, which is by design in this clinic. It schedules everyone for the same time. In the hallway, another parent was loudly expressing her frustration at the way the clinic operated. She explained how the extended wait was disrupting her day and the cascading effects. Her criticisms were deflected as a simple matter of the way the clinic runs. It’s a large clinic, she was told. In other words, they empathized with the needs of the clinic.

The logistical challenges of scheduling is a problem ripe for AI. Eventually, base scheduling will be optimized. But more consequentially, it will lay bare the cultural differences. And culture is a much deeper challenge.

Thanks for highlighting these issues.