How long with each patient?

[doctoritis]

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Outside of the residency environment where there is obviously a lot of time devoted to teaching and other academic nuisances, how long do you need to spend on your exam to make a diagnosis? I see some of these (non-ophtho) sub-specialists being in and out of a room in literally a minute (have scribes of course) .. and bedside manner seems just fine.

 

[docta9]

Probably copy the doctor who hires you or, if you start your own practice, be your own tech at first.

 

[dantt]

To exam? 1 minute. 5 minutes to review the chart and make a plan.

 

[JMK2005]

depends if you want to do a good job or a crappy job. unfortunately, in the real world both pays the same so people will take more shortcuts.

 

[eye love lamp]

Outside of the residency environment where there is obviously a lot of time devoted to teaching and other academic nuisances, how long do you need to spend on your exam to make a diagnosis? I see some of these (non-ophtho) sub-specialists being in and out of a room in literally a minute (have scribes of course) .. and bedside manner seems just fine.

The answer to your question depends on a lot of things - what kind of patient encounter is this? New patient encounter with a complicated chief complaint? Routine screening with no problems? Follow up patient? These all will have a vastly different time requirements.

Retina specialists have the chance to be the minute and go type that you describe. A patient with diabetic macular edema getting anti-VEGF treatments? You really only need a quick glimpse of the retina, OCT and you're done with the exam. From there you can very quickly determine if they need another injection or not. A neuro-ophthalmologist is on the other end of the spectrum. Their patient encounters tend to be brutally long.

To exam? 1 minute. 5 minutes to review the chart and make a plan.

I would love to see you in a comprehensive ophthalmology clinic with this attitude.

 

[dantt]

The answer to your question depends on a lot of things - what kind of patient encounter is this? New patient encounter with a complicated chief complaint? Routine screening with no problems? Follow up patient? These all will have a vastly different time requirements.

Retina specialists have the chance to be the minute and go type that you describe. A patient with diabetic macular edema getting anti-VEGF treatments? You really only need a quick glimpse of the retina, OCT and you're done with the exam. From there you can very quickly determine if they need another injection or not. A neuro-ophthalmologist is on the other end of the spectrum. Their patient encounters tend to be brutally long.



I would love to see you in a comprehensive ophthalmology clinic with this attitude.

Can easily be done in any subspecialty practice except for neuro (cornea, glaucoma, plastics, retina, cataract). You really only need to slow down when you need to seriously discuss risks of surgery.