I have read multiple posts from both sides of
the story regarding changing office hours for
Fridays, and still am not convinced by any of
them. There are some issues that haven’t been
touched on.
For example, in any practice, patient access to
care must be addressed. So, there needs to be
hours either in the evening, a Saturday, and
during the daytime. Do you need all of this? No,
of course not. But if you don’t have this
access, mostly for working people, you will lose
these patients. I find it somewhat interesting
that people say they aren’t losing patients when
they change their hours. How do you know if you
lost patients? They don’t call back and tell you
they went somewhere else, do they? For some
reason, none of us think we lose patients! We
are all so great that no one would ever consider
going down the street to someone else.
Some of us may be in the position to not really
care much if we lose some patients. Others are
building a practice and need every patient and
referral they can get. These decisions share
some basis, and some are unique to the practice.
As far as stress levels being reduced by taking
off Fridays, I can see more stress when I would
come in Monday and find my desk with 2 days of
mail, numerous calls to return, faxes to review,
and general things that need my attention. So,
my Mondays would probably start out very
hectic, and my week is doomed before I even
start! My Fridays are limited to non-routine
care patients, and I end at noon. That half day
allows me the flexibility I need, and is usually
a nice day, as I know I will be done early and
out the door!
Our practice has chosen to not have any hours
later than 5 pm. However, in order to
accommodate patient needs, we are open for 3
hours on Saturdays, rotating between docs, and
being out the door by noon. This is what I have
chosen for our practice. Working Saturdays ,
even when shared, I am sure will elicit “ is he
crazy?” comments from most people. But it works
for me. I would rather be home every evening,
eating dinner with my family, than working
later. For years, I coached my kids in all
sports, attended all their functions, only
because of my not having evening hours. Working
a few hours on a few Saturday mornings, and
having that family time has been well worth it.
Brian Kashan, DPM, Baltimore, MD, drbkas@att.net
