Do not take cookies, treats, etc.

I attended a medical conference for 10 hrs a month ago. During the panel discussion (while we ate box lunches) it was brought up by the woman psychologist who ran the pain clinic where kids deal with huge issues...RSD, cancer pain... That the staff regards gifts/food/ parties, flowers as bribes, and evaluate the giver negatively. I was rather stunned at this, but they were adamant. They see it as some controlling issue, to mess the the doctor's heads. This is a nationally known place...a tertiary specialty place...so they get many types of people, at the end of their ropes.

I think handling a difficult/ or overly busy doctor's office as a nightmare task.
I guess being patient, pleasant, and intelligent with requests, is the only way to go. If you figure out a way to improve things, please tell me. This problem is enormous, and hard to deal with when one is ill, and hurting.