Your problem with doctors sounds like it's their time constraint. Why don't you pay a bit more to get a longer consult? You want them to work magic in 20 minutes?
I responded to OP's statement. Dismissing is quite different.
I responded to OP's statement. Dismissing is quite different.
The doctor, after number 3 in my list and less than 15 minutes into the appointment said "Are you done?" After item 4 a couple minutes later he said "Is that it?" In a condescending manner.
Needless to say, I was pissed.
But, the thing is, it's not the doctors fault. He's working in a system that values throughput over all else...and this is Kaiser, a vertically integrated provider where you would think that would be less of an issue. So he was late to my appointment and saw my long appointment as a way to get back on schedule to ensure he saw the 40 patients he had to see that day.
The whole system is broken.
This is not meant to sounds harsh, all I am saying that from any business you can't buy a product they aren't in the business of selling.
Comparing this business model to McDonalds is a bit ridiculous. Maybe compare to a lawyer booking double time, or thousands of other professionals. But don't make the unnecessary jump to a fast food chain.
Are you in US? Is double consult something insurance/government pays for twice for you? Or are you are talking about a different billing code? Or self-pay?
Doctors still often go over time.
So given that, a patient is likely getting the most expensive product a given doctor will deliver already. To get a better product simple options are specialists (much higher reimbursements, selection bias for more complex cases) and specialists at major teaching hospitals (even more of the above).
There are effective ways for a patient to hack the system by doing lots of work themselves (e.g. by maintaining his own clinical summary) but they are beyond what most patients will do.
It's a lot like YC office hours actually. Though doctors have less time than YC partners. And doctors get paid per appointment.
In general, it's not useful to think of doctors as engineers. The line doctors work is much more tech support - lots of similar highly repeatable cases, with a well understood script. The ones that are more like engineers are doing research in research hospitals and writing that script. They still see some patients as part of their work, but appointment reimbursements are not a profit center for them, but part of their research.
Then again, my previous GP said he had 7 minutes per consultation.
(FWIW, I’m in the Netherlands).