May 2005 – What kind of physician do you want, one who runs on time, or one who spends the time? You can’t have both:
A typical visit to a primary care physician’s office is allotted 15 minutes. Each physician session lasts 4 hours. Think about that. If the doctor merely spends 5 “extra” minutes with each patient, the last patient of the session will be over 1 hour late. Guaranteed.Is that acceptable? It depends. Some will find going in and out of a visit in 5 minutes, but on time, to be satisfactory. Others will find waiting 1 hour for a doctor to spend 30 minutes on them to be just as satisfying.
The key as a patient is to find a physician whose view of the spectrum matches yours. Those patients who are unhappy are those who are matched with a doctor with a differing view of the spectrum.
Related posts:
- Waiting hours to see a doctor, and patients billing physicians for lost time
- The waiting room: Drug reps add to the tension
- Designing a physician waiting room
- Waiting for the doctor
- Classic post: Cut Medicare payments for doctors, you’ll have fewer doctors
- Paying for e-mails
- The crapshoot of emergency medicine
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{ 13 comments }
You’re missing the easy solution: The telephone.
Many people (including me) are happily accepting of the need to take extra time. Hell, I don’t mind if my doctor wants to run 3 hours late. They (and I) just want to know before they get there. There’s really no inherent barrier to that at all,=.
On the rare ocassion I visit my doctor’s office, he always thanks me for letting him get back on time because I don’t take up a lot of his time. It’s happened 3 of the last 4 times I’ve been there.
To be honest, it kind of sucks, but I feel bad knowing how much time people can suck up without knowing it. I just dislike being the one whose face time with him is shortened all the time. But at the same time I don’t *need* to be there (usually).
Waiting at Doctor’s offices is like sitting in traffic. No one enjoys it, but it does no good to get tied in knots about it. There is nothing that anyone can do. Take your mp3 player and a book and enjoy the break.
I understand when my Dr. is running behind. I know that he is spending the time with someone who really needs him. He always apoligizes when I’ve had to wait longer. I feel for the other patient and him, because that stresses him out, to now try and get back on track and it means someone else isn’t doing so well. I’ll be out the door in 5 with a sinus infection.
One thing I don’t agree on, is having a walk in center,so people don’t clog up the emergency departments, and then they leave one lone Dr. or two to man it, plus take in scheduled patients around all that. That’s insane.
Nor, do I understand when a patient wakes up with conjunctivitis and has an appointment with a specialist(planned appt. unrelated) and the specialist looks at it and feels he’s to good to treat that…go to your PCP!
“wakes up with conjunctivitis and has an appointment with a specialist”
Well most “conjunctivitis” is not bacterial it is viral (or allergic). It does not need tx. You don’t get an abx for everything.
I agree with you on that. I’m not uneducated, nor did I say I expected antibiotics…just help, a check on it, since he was a Dr. too and this discharge was very purulent. In my case it was bacterial and did need tx.
Bacterial conjunctivitis usually begins in one eye and often spreads to the other. If a bacterial infection is the cause, there may be some yellow pus-like discharge from the eye.
Viral conjunctivitis is more likely to cause a watery discharge that can be crusty in the morning but is not pus-like. Viral conjunctivitis usually begins in one eye then affects the other eye within 24-48 hours. There may also be cold-like symptoms, such as fever and a sore throat. Like colds, the symptoms tend to get worse over the first few days, and then gradually improve over the next two to three weeks.
1. You don’t say what kind of specialist or what kind of referral
2. Depending on the type of conjunctivitis, as another poster suggested, no treatment may be necessary./ Most common conjunctividites require time and patience and careful hygeine, nothing more.
3. Followup may be required but not readily available with a specialist whose specialty does not include routine problems like conjunctivitis. You may think it is because he thinks your problem is “below him”, he may see it as a complaint that he does not routinely treat and that if it should require further workup, like lab investigation or biopsy, he would not be able to provide that anyway. From your account, it sounds as if you tried to have a separate unrelated problem addressed during a subspecialist evaluation. That might seem like a reasonable request to you, but in reality it is not. It is not up to the patient to define the scope of a doctor’s practice.
Thank you. I truly appreciate your telling me in a non hostile fashion. Not being in medicine, I didn’t understand.
I did think it reasonable that any Dr. ,if they see you like that, would help. If he had said that to me, I would have understood. Communication goes a long way. Thank you.
I don’t understand…why didn’t the doc just give antibiotic drops (ciloxan/tobradex/vigamox, takes about 5 seconds to write the script, and get your complaining ass out of his office? See what happenes, he tries to do the right thing, no antibiotics, and he gets this a-hole complaining on the internet about him…don’t try to help these people, just give them what they want and get them out, save enough to retire and get the hell out of this field…
ANON 5:48 –
Congratulations on all of the wonderful medical advice you receive on Kevin-md.
I see you are currently wedged between Dr. Mengele and Charles Manson.
Go to an eye specialist and get a complete evaluation-just in case you have early glaucoma-which is unlikely. You’ll feel better getting some caring advice.
Geezzzz, I never realized how some Dr.s really feel about their patients, and to think..I just sent my Dr. a gift basket to let him know how much he is appreciated.
Your doctor WILL appreciate your gift basket more than you expect. I can guarantee that if the specialist did not treat the conjunctivitis, it is because he/she is not comfortable or knows he cannot be sure of the diagnosis, particularly without a slit lamp(microscope). Antibiotics will not help most conjunctivitis, but are similarly not likely to cause any harm, your pocketbook excluded.
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