Missing The Old Fashion Doctors

Remember going to a doctor that didn't have a speciality listed behind their name? The ones that could distinguish the difference between a wart and a mole or a common cold vs a 5 letter/numeric viruses that is going around? I truly miss these people. NOW we have specialities with sub-specialities which require a medical dictionary to know which direction to head. Weird you call in to make an appointment which usually requires a referral and the booking agent goes over the qualifications of symptoms to be able to get in. Are we too specialized now?

How many of us are living between the cracks in the cement with our hand raised high trying to be recognized to fit inside one of these groups? I often hear, no I can't order a steroid because that isn't in my field, no I can't sign off on a handicap parking sticker because it takes an Orthopedic or Neurologist for your symptoms, or worse no I can't order you an anti-nausea you need to see your PCP. Now most of the regular generic doctors run clinics in which a Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant is in charge of your care. That's fine, most of these can and do listen better than those with significant initials behind their name. The only problem is being limited to what they can do for you. The one thing I probably hate the most is asking for something, explaining why I am needing it then being given those sad puppy dog eyes of yes we understand but sorry we can't do that for you; it will take going to this person to accomplish that mission. Congratulations you just had another wasted visit but hey they are more than happy to run all those annual tests you might be behind on to stay healthy. My goal at that moment is to fix the existing issue I am experiencing you just said you can't help with.

How about the college medical offices where you get to spend a huge amount of time describing what is going on with you only to hear the Doctor will be with you shortly lol. Did I provide too much information, not enough, or too complicated for their level of study at that time? It's always fun to watch the big guy come in looking really confused and wanting you to start from scratch describing your symptoms.

Then of course posted everywhere your eyes can see are signs stating we do not order narcotics, we only order narcotics for 3 days, or don't call on Friday for refills. Well okie dokie but do you treat complicated patients? Maybe they all should have a brief synopsis of what they prefer to treat to help limit appointments not qualifying for their services. What is worse is now that politics have entered medication trying to navigate through the political BS of THE CDC recommends this or the FDA wants that. I would just be satisfied if they start putting a R or D behind their initials so I can avoid any arguments. Politics should NOT be in medicine period. I'm not a party, I am a person seeking answers so I can feel good again.

Once upon a time there was a big push for "Team Approach Medicine". This would include everyone staying in communication with other providers, services receiving, and it also included us the patient. Now you can barely get one Dr to talk to another even if they are located inside the same building or healthcare service. One of the top aggravating things is to have 2 different speciality appointments within a short window and both order the exact same labs. This happened to me recently. I asked if they could just look at the labs currently drawn only to be told they didn't have access to them. Interesting because I did. They were located on my phone under my chart. I literally had to open the app to show the results. They can see your pharmacy history and current meds but can't get results from labs? Crazy! Insurances are wanting to save money by denying treatments or meds. They could save a boat load by just helping us navigate through the "common sense" break down within the system. I literally in 1 year had the same 21 blood lab draws a total of 3 times and was headed for the 4th when I said NO.

We are getting lost in the shuffle of too many specialities, lack of or poor communication sharing, and hoping that the other guy ends up with the pleasure of treating us. It would be great if we could pull back on the specialities a little especially since we are told there are a shortage of doctors now. Maybe this would even shorten the waiting time to actually get in.