There are a wide range of effects for a person missing an appointment. Missing an appointment effect the individual who missed the appointment, least of all. Regardless of reason, not showing up for a scheduled time is a great disrespect to all the people that might have benefited from the scheduled time. Missing an appointment punishes others that may have gained from that time slot.
There are many solutions to not missing an appointment, and by following the steps to prevent from missing an appointment gives a common courtesy to others.People’s time is extremely valuable and by missing an appointment it shows an extreme amount of disrespect. The main people being affected by my inconsiderate decision were the physical therapists, the patients, and least of all I. The people who work for you are being thrown under the bus when an appointment is missed.
In my case, the people at the physical therapy clinic who work tirelessly to provide care for others that are injured, to get them back in fighting shape. By missing the allotted time all of the preparation and care to make me better was essentially thrown down the drain.A substantial amount of time was wasted that could have been used to benefit me or another soldier. I cannot reiterate enough, the selfishness of missing an appointment. All that was needed was a simple call, a common courtesy, for the situation to be resolved.
By missing my appointment I basically told the physical therapy clinic that my time is more valuable than yours, which is very disrespectful. The others that were affected by my decision to miss the appointment were all of the other patients seeking care.Being a soldier requires many physical demands which often incur injuries. It is extremely important for any soldier seeking care to be able to receive the proper treatment.
By me missing my appointment it took time away from another soldier that could have received treatment. By calling ahead it could have potentially given someone else who needed that time with the physical therapy clinic, a chance to get seen and treated. I inadvertently placed myself before others by not calling ahead and cancelling, or rescheduling my allotted time with the physical therapy clinic.I briefly put aside some of my basic values of being a soldier when I missed the appointment. There are many solutions that could have been done to avoid the missed appointment, and will be done in the future. Something as easy as putting an alarm in my phone, could have helped me to not miss my appointment.
I also could have been more proactive with my leadership and let my chain of command know when and what time my appointment was. Certain safeguards in the future will be put in place to prevent this lack of respect for others, to not happen again.The more people I let know of my appointments will prevent me from missing any future appointments. I feel I can improve as a soldier from this incident and by me missing this appointment it will make me become more considerate for others and give me a better awareness of when and where my appointments are. On Friday I missed my physical therapy appointment and while I feel this was an outlier of events, I cannot and will not let this happen again. The only reason I can provide as to why my appointment was missed is that I work sick call at the Aid Station, and it ran later than normal that morning.
As a medic I know first-hand the importance of holding true to a scheduled appointment. I know what it feels like being on the other end of the spectrum. When I screen patients and a patient misses an appointment it feels like someone has wasted my time. In other words it feels like a slap in the face, which makes me missing my appointment that much more inexcusable.
Others that feel the effects of missing an appointment are the direct chain of command. The lack of respect by one person can reflect negatively on a whole organization.By missing an appointment others wonder if the unit as a whole treats appointments and others with that same lack of respect. In my case I have great NCO’s and a great support system that has done nothing but help me in my career and teach me the in’s and out’s of how to be a good soldier and an even better person.
However, with my lapse in judgment my decision reflected very poorly on my leadership. That in itself is enough for me to understand the negative outcomes by missing my appointment. Overall the effects of one individual’s mistake can be felt by a plethora of different individuals and groups.From the Physical therapy clinic whose time could have been better spent helping other patients to me as an individual. I think something good that has come out of my mistake is that I now have a much better perspective of all the different people that my decision affected.
Appointments are very easy to cancel ahead of time to give another person a chance to seek treatment. For so many people and organizations effected a simple phone call or preventative measure would have resolved the situations.
