This is assuming a nurse or tech will be speaking to you before the doctor sees you. They might ask you some questions and take some vitals, then the doctor will come in afterwards.

I have some doctors who give me an appointment time and then they say come 15 minutes before your appointment. I think that is stupid. I put in my calendar the time I need to be there so I don’t screw it up. I try not to screw it up anyway.

I just took my dad to the doctor and we were ten minutes early and the doctor commented that we were ten minutes late, because they like patients to come 20 minutes before your appointment. This was at the VA where plenty of patients are disabled or old and have some memory problems. Can’t the doctor figure out their time with the patient is 20 minutes after the scheduled appointment time rather than putting that on the patient? I would think the doctor is fully compos mentis, while the patient might not be. The appointment time is on the appointment card or in the portal, not the time to be there by. That makes no sense to me. Why does the patient need to keep track of how much beforehand each doctor wants us to arrive? It is just asking for mistakes.