Problem: His office isn’t well managed.

Real-Life Scenario #1: A pregnant woman regularly waits two hours to see her obstetrician. When she asks why, he says, “I’m just really busy.”

Solution: Ridiculous, say most experts, if a two-hour wait is the rule rather than the exception. An occasional delay is excusable — if, for instance, your ob-gyn had to perform an emergency C-section and the office kept you posted on her expected return. But any wait over 30 minutes is extended and grounds for, at the very least, walking out and rescheduling, says Karen Hickman, a corporate etiquette consultant and a former nurse in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That said, consistent promptness isn’t particularly common. A 2005 study by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a federal group that focuses on improving health care for Americans, found that only 20 percent of adults surveyed were always taken to the exam room within 15 minutes of their appointments.

If you choose to wait, ask the receptionist if the doctor is in the office and running late or if he’s out of the office altogether, suggests Pamela Gallin, an associate clinical professor of pediatric ophthalmology at Columbia University’s Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute, in New York City, and the author of How to Survive Your Doctor’s Care (LifeLine Press, $20, www.amazon.com). If he’s not there, you may want to reschedule. When he does appear, ask if there’s anything you can do to minimize the delay next time and if the wait is normal or an exception. If the doctor admits to frequently running behind, you’ll know to bring a good book to your next appointment. But “if being on time is important to you and a doctor says that delays are part of the experience of being his patient, it might be time to look for a new doctor,” says Vicki Rackner, a board-certified surgeon in Mercer Island, Washington, and the owner of Medical Bridges, a medical-consulting company.

Real-Life Scenario #2: A pediatrician tells a mother that the office will call her within a week with important test results for her child. After a week, the mother calls the office. “Oh yeah, they’re right here,” says the receptionist. “Everything is fine.” “Why didn’t you call me?” the mom asks. “We don’t have time to do that,” she responds.

Solution: Test results should be delivered in a prompt, clear, respectful way, and anything less merits a call or a letter of complaint to your doctor. If the doctor doesn’t apologize and you anticipate frequent visits, consider leaving her and looking for a doctor whose office is run more professionally. Some offices have stated policies that, for instance, they’ll mail good news and call with bad. If it’s a doctor you’d like to stick with (your child loves her; she has excellent credentials), bring a self-addressed, stamped envelope to your appointments and request that your results be mailed directly to you. Or just accept that you’ll have to be vigilant about following up.