Embarrassed to see a doctor

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So i have a slightly embarrassing medical condition that requires treatment. Anyone else ever feel embarrassed to go see a doctor at your medical school hospital. Theres a good chance that i may eventually end up rotating with that doctor or i know some of the third year students on his service. I know about hippa and all but still it makes me kinda nervous

Does your school allow students to see other students? Mine doesn't. I'd check into that.

Student health services? Another hospital?

they've seen it all before. I doubt they'll think anything different about you because you've got the herp.

and they won't let a student see or read about you.

Ive gotten care from colleagues and vice-versa many times. we're all professionals and it shouldnt be a problem.

Originally Posted by armybound

they've seen it all before. I doubt they'll think anything different about you because you've got the herp.

and they won't let a student see or read about you.

nailed it

You can always decline to see any medical students or residents.

Just give them a heads up when you schedule the appointment that you dont want any medical students and/or residents involved in your care.

Is there any way you could hedge this situation by seeking out a novel treatment (less invasive, newer technology, etc.) by a physician at your school or one of your schools' affiliated hospitals? You could easily get your name on the case report and even turn it into a peer reviewed paper. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, OP. You could actually use it to help you come residency app time.

Originally Posted by armybound

they've seen it all before. I doubt they'll think anything different about you because you've got the herp.

and they won't let a student see or read about you.

could be clammy too. You should be able to get some azithromycin on the black market...

C'mon guys -- clearly OP's problem can be solved with a little fluoxetine once a day. PE is extremely common -- nothing to be embarrassed about.

In all seriousness, like other posters have said: you don't have anything that they haven't seen before. Give a heads up to your phys that you don't want to be seen by any med students/residents and they should respect that. Or, if you're really that worried, go see someone at another hospital.

Why are you even thinking about going to your academic hospital?

There should be a student health services you could go to for primary care stuff.

If you need a specialist, there are probably tons of them in private practice around your city because they graduated from your institution for residency.

Derm rotation, senior year: I picked up the chart A that just happened to be a very routine derm complaint. Could have just as easily picked up chart B, which turned out to be anal warts of the husband of one of my classmates. Only knew about it because the resident complained about how disgusting it was. Luckily, never ran into that classmate again; otherwise...awkward.

Originally Posted by colbgw02

Derm rotation, senior year: I picked up the chart A that just happened to be a very routine derm complaint. Could have just as easily picked up chart B, which turned out to be anal warts of the husband of one of my classmates. Only knew about it because the resident complained about how disgusting it was. Luckily, never ran into that classmate again; otherwise...awkward.

Oh god..... why did I google anal warts.

Definitely go to another hospital. There really is no privacy in medicine anymore. People talk, judge, joke, etc. Anyone who thinks otherwise is being naive.

Originally Posted by slowpoke

oh god..... Why did i google anal warts.

hpv...?

I wouldn't...

I can imagine being admitted to surgery and as a patient, the attending pimps me on my condition.

Originally Posted by sirenomelia

Ive gotten care from colleagues and vice-versa many times. we're all professionals and it shouldnt be a problem.

I wish this were true, but at some places it isn't. Even places I've been with a pretty strict zero tolerance policy and generally good people, some people still stuck their noses where they don't belong and even attendings pass judgment. There was a post on here awhile back by a med student who had to do his psych rotation on the same unit he'd been hospitalized for depression at and openly received grief about it from the staff during the rotation.

OP, if it's really something you're uncomfortable with I'd recommend trying to seek care elsewhere.

There is a slightly similar thread posted in the Confidential Consult forum here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=890063. An incoming medical student with similar concerns wonders whether he or she should take the school's health insurance.
What's the consensus on this?

Originally Posted by KnuxNole

I wouldn't...

I can imagine being admitted to surgery and as a patient, the attending pimps me on my condition.

This happened to me. I am serious. I love my home institution and it would have been a pain to get care elsewhere, but it was definitely awkward at several times.

This happened to me in October. Had to have an emergency procedure at my home institution. I just politely insisted that there were to be no medical students involved in my care. Didn't want my classmates seeing me semi-naked, not that they would want to. Glad I went there too, as the hospital did not charge me for what the insurance company didn't pay!

///

I go to my school's family med department for my primary care and it has never been an issue in the past and my doctor and I have had discussions about this sort of issue several times. The one caveat is that they had paper charts until last summer and EMR is going to change things; I haven't been there as a patient since they got the EMR up and running. Outpatient med students do not see other med students, but with the EMR it is distinctly possible that a student is going to read through your chart before the attending tells them not to see you.