Can a cardiothoracic surgeon perform as a FP doc?

[John Rose]

Hey out there. I need some insight.

I am a recruiter and I have a cardiothoracic surgeon who wants to do a little locum tenens assignment for one of my Family Medicine clients. He has very limited patient contact in the last 2 years, but has worked some emergency medicine locums in the last few months.

My client is balking about this but I feel that they would be getting a steal, kind of like getting Peyton Manning for your high school football team.

Am I right here or does the specialty focus create a very limited view of the patient?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

John

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ADH]

Your client would be crazy to accept this. Not that the CV guy isnt a brilliant, well trained surgeon, but what is going to do with a diabetic with an A1C of 10 who's COPD is worsening and he's having trouble with his gout? Not to mention the first time a child or pregnant women walks in.

We have a former plastic surgeon in the ED at one of the hospitals where I work and he is terrible. He admits everything so that he doesnt have to work it up himself and actually make a decision.

I like your analogy regarding peyton manning and high school football but lets change it a little.... It might be like getting peyton to play defensive tackle for your high school football team.

 

[paiute]

I would ask the surgeon for his recent CME certificates. Also, has he ever worked in primary care before? It is possible to jump to other specialities. I used to be an anesthesiologist, but now I do primary care full time. It takes a lot of effort, self study, and consultation, but it can be done.

 

[tibor75]

My client is balking about this but I feel that they would be getting a steal, kind of like getting Peyton Manning for your high school football team.

Uh, no

it would be more like drafting Peyton Manning for your high school hockey team.

In other words, the surgeon will be a fool.

Think he can do GYN exams? Look in a kid's ear?

 

[randomedstudent]

Hey out there. I need some insight.

I am a recruiter and I have a cardiothoracic surgeon who wants to do a little locum tenens assignment for one of my Family Medicine clients. He has very limited patient contact in the last 2 years, but has worked some emergency medicine locums in the last few months.

My client is balking about this but I feel that they would be getting a steal, kind of like getting Peyton Manning for your high school football team.

Am I right here or does the specialty focus create a very limited view of the patient?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.


John

Is this a joke? Assuming it's not.....short answer...no, you are wrong. Think of it the other way around and you may see how ridiculous this sounds, would you hire a family doctor to be a heart surgeon?

 

[astropilot]

We have a retired general surgeon in our VA ED. He has picked up on medicine slowly and admits he doesn't always know when things need to be admitted. He does admit a lot as he "doesn't feel comfortable sending" some patients out (like acute uncomplicated DVT).

 

[dragonfly99]

You are wrong and your client is 100% right.
You are being arrogant r.e. the depth of knowledge required to properly practice family medicine. Even as an internal med doc, I think there are various family medicine jobs that I would not be qualified to do.

Working in an ER is different even than doing outpatient primary care...I have done both...the reason that sometimes surgeons (and IM docs like me) do OK in an ER is that basically you have to make a decision to admit someone, or "treat and street". Also, you often have some consultants available to help you if you don't know what to do (at least by phone or fax, if not in person). ER in a trauma center I'm sure is quite a bit more challenging, and I don't find working even in a nontrauma ER to be easy, but it's different...and doable.

I doubt that the vast majority of cardiothoracic surgeons would function very well as a family practice doc. He might do all right in an urgent care setting, particularly with some CME and self study, etc. but there is an art (and quite a bit of knowledge) behind treating ongoing chronic medical problems, like we do in family practice and IM. Furthermore, a lot of the patients, at least in IM, tend to be old and have multiple things going on (like they are obese, have diabetes AND heart disease AND lung disease) and they tend to be on a lot of different medications. It's actually not that hard to hurt a patient in some cases. There's just a lot different knowledge base that is required to do cardiothoracic surgery vs. something like internal medicine or family practice...they are far apart in terms of knowledge base. The CT surgeon knows a lot of stuff...it's just different stuff. He'd probably do better to stick to the ER or urgent care, at least at first. Or he could go work on one of those vein clinics, etc.

 

[John Rose]

Thanks for all the feedback, Very helpful. New to this industry for recruiting and appreciate the info.

 

[nephappl]

I think that just thinking a CT surgeon can perform as a family practicioner is absolutely disrespectful for the specialty of family practice which requires a great deal of knowledge to deal with so many medical issues at different ages.
NA

 

[Myostatin]

As stated by everone else above, having a CT surgeon do family practice is a terrible idea for your client, as well as for the surgeon.

 

[howelljolly]

Uh, no

it would be more like drafting Peyton Manning for your high school hockey team.

In other words, the surgeon will be a fool.

Think he can do GYN exams? Look in a kid's ear?

This is a much better analogy.

Sure, the CT surgeon knows a lot. But, he doesn't know any more (volume) than the FP does. the CT surgoen just knows... and moreover, does.... different stuff.

Knowing the technical aspects of bypassing a coronary artery, or knowing how to remove a segment of a lung will not be of any use in the FP setting.

In fact, its about as absurd as saying that a plumber can function as a FP.

FPs need to have a tremendous breadth of knowledge - everything from fetal development and obstretrics, to pedatrics, to general medicine, to gynecology, to minor surgery. None of it has anything to do with what a CT surgoen knows or does.

This question actually irritated me, and Im not even a doctor.

Besides, what has this got to do with cardiology?

 

[Ashrouf]

This is so bizzare that a surgeon actually wants to do this. Their training is so narrow, and family medicine is so wide in knowledge base. Bad idea.

 

[radslooking]

Your client would be crazy to accept this. Not that the CV guy isnt a brilliant, well trained surgeon, but what is going to do with a diabetic with an A1C of 10 who's COPD is worsening and he's having trouble with his gout? Not to mention the first time a child or pregnant women walks in.

We have a former plastic surgeon in the ED at one of the hospitals where I work and he is terrible. He admits everything so that he doesnt have to work it up himself and actually make a decision.

I like your analogy regarding peyton manning and high school football but lets change it a little.... It might be like getting peyton to play defensive tackle for your high school football team.

lol good answer mellon. Im gonna keep my eye on you.

my first question would be "why". Sounds like a red flag.