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10 Things Your Primary Care Doctor Does That Should Make You Run for the Hills
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Dr. Orrange received her BA in Biology at the University of California, San Diego, and a Masters Degree in Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. She received her MD from the USC Keck School of…
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10 Things Your Primary Care Doctor Does That Should Make You Run for the Hills
In the last year I've had the opportunity to be a patient and a Doctor. I have frustrations like you do so I came up with my list.
1) Dr X leaves you waiting more than 45 minutes in the room on more than one occasion without an explanation or a quick apology when entering the room "I'm sorry to keep you waiting." Another way to handle it is to have the nurse let you know "Dr X is running 30 minutes late today so you can grab a coffee or a magazine"
2) Dr X's office provides no way for you to reach a HUMAN VOICE afterhours or on the weekends if you have a medical issue that requires attention THAT NIGHT.
3) Dr X smells like cigarette smoke. I get it...it's a hard habit to kick....but you can't smell like cigarettes when you are going to counsel your patients about modifying their risk factors for stroke and heart disease. You should cut it out during your clinic day.
4) Dr X doesn't touch you. You have a specific complaint (shortness of breath, knee pain, sore throat) and your primary care doctor doesn't look or listen to the affected area....maybe I'm old school but the answer so often lies in the physical exam
5) You are having severe pain (i.e. back pain after you lifted a couch), not relieved with over the counter meds, and Dr X is unwilling to prescribe pain meds for breakthrough pain because "they are addictive". We are dismal at treating pain in the primary care setting for unfounded fears of this. Short term use of Vicodin, Tylenol with codeine, etc for treatment of acute pain is completely fine for most patients.
6) You are talking about feeling depressed, sad or discussing a painful life event (the recent loss of a parent, etc) and you start to cry.... and you notice Dr X appears uncomfortable and tries to change the subject. Bad news.
7) A recent study showed that during 30% of primary care visits the doctor spent more time talking about themselves than they did the patient. Ok my patients often ask me how my kids are. 30 seconds...that's the amount of time I spend talking about myself. This visit is about YOU and we are already limited in what we can do in 15 minutes.
8) Dr X says "that's just part of getting old" when you have a complaint. Its true: arthritis, visual changes, decreased hearing, sun damaged skin are among the fun things that go along with getting old but WE CAN STILL HAVE A PLAN to deal with them and alter their course.
9) Dr X delivers bad news (loss of a pregnancy, a positive STD test, a new cancer diagnosis) with language that is short, sharp, rushed and without emotion. Some news will change a person's life forever and they will always remember that moment.....to add to it with a cold delivery is just painful.
10) Dr X can't say "I don't know what that is....but let's make sure it's not something worrisome". Often a patient has a pain, skin lesion, weird symptom that occurs only when they are doing such and such activity and I don't know WHAT it is. But it's your doc's job to admit that...and say they will do their best to monitor it and rule out worrisome things.
Am I missing anything?
Dr O.
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on one occasion i went to see him with a lump on my neck, and he insisted it was a muscle. he said 'im the dr, this is my opinion, take it or leave it'... because of this my chemo was delayed by months.
unfortunately, it seems that the person i was finally referred to, is just as bad or even worse....
im glad you posted this message and i hope people who feel this fits the description of their dr, consider leaving and finding someone who will care for them. i only wish i had done that before i needed the dr for something more serious that a cough.
Another reason to not go back to a doctor? How about when you only see the "PA" and never the dr. My last visit to my dr (or PA, cause I never saw the dr) was a few years ago when my irises turned red. The PA said it was pink eye. I knew it wasn't as I had pink eye all while I was a kid. I told him it wasn't pink eye but he ignored me. When my symptoms didn't go away, I went to an eye dr who said it was UVitis and very serious condition that left untreated can cause blindness--never went back to that stupid PA!
In regards to your #6: Dr. X hands you antidepressants without finding out what's wrong or at least suggesting therapy in conjunction with the meds.
May I add a couple more?
1) Dr X opens the door, says s/he'll be right back and you never see him/her again (i.e. when Dr. X is ready to move on to the next patient, s/he doesn't bother to ask if you have any questions/concerns AND doesn't say good bye)
2) Dr X attributes every complaint to an existing dx.
3) Dr X disregards patient's concerns, even tho the patient knows his/her body better than Dr. X
4) Dr X gets upset or is insulted if you want a 2nd opinion
5) Dr X informs you that a certain illness/disease/syndrome doesn't exist or can't happen in your geographical location
Another huge issue is that many doctors don't know anything more about prescription drugs than what the pharmaceutical sales reps tell them or what is in the highly slanted brochures. They also aren't aware of side effects or the difficulties encountered when trying to stop taking a drug. I have finally found a dr who subscribes to www.uptodate.com. She prints out info about my meds, supplements and medical conditions. This info also includes references to studies, etc. Now this isn't the be all end all of medical info, but it sure beats what most drs I've had in the past do.
Even the pharmaceutical websites post limited information. For example, I discovered some alarming facts about the side effects AND WITHDRAWAL issues for Effexor by clicking on every link shown in the drug info section of their website. What I found hidden was very scary. And obviously something they don't readily disclose as I had to click on several levels of links to get to the facts.
Nothing is as good as an informed consumer/patient asking questions.
Dr O.