Patient contact in Neurology.

[Leukocyte]

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I am in Family Medicine, and I am sick and tierd of the CONTINUOUS, non stop pateint contact in this specialty.

-Clinic: We see 30-40 patients per day as a senior resident, with 10 minutes per patient. 20 minutes for "procedure visits", and first prenatal visits.

-In-patient: We admit patients non stop, at least 1 every hour. Includes adults, pediatrics, and OB/GYN.

I want to transfer to a specialty where the patient contact is limited, focused, and structured. How "bad" is the patient contact in neurology. Is it continuous, rushed, and stacked like FM/IM? Or is it more limited, relaxed, and focused?

Basicly, I do not enjoy seeing too many patients everyday. I also do not enjoy patient "continuity". I like to do other things during my day that do not involve seeing patients. Where does Neurology rank on the patient contact scale, with Pathology being the most limited contact, and Family Medicine being the most contact?

Thank You.

 

[Phantom Spike]

There is a lot of patient contact in Neurology, as you probably can guess. It is a very clinically intense specialty. Most of what a neurologist sees is very history-and-physical oriented. The biggest chunk of patients in a general neurology practice consists of dementia, pain (headaches, backache and neck pain, neuropathy), and seizures. Then there are patients with nebulous complaints that are hard to diagnose but take a long time to investigate.

As to the number of patients you see, you can probably be as busy as you want to be, like any field. Private practice neurologists can have quite heavy patient loads. I know neurologists who see 20-30 patients a day in their clinic, and sometimes have 5-10 inpatients at the same time. You can supplement your income with EEGs and EMGs, like most neurologists do, but if you have a technician who performs these studies, you will be adding to your overhead. Some neurologists also do sleep studies and pain procedures, but again, these are basically patient contact encounters, and you will be adding to your overhead here as well.

I agree that at times, your patient encounters are more oriented to a specific problem, but I would imagine that taking care of a patient whose main problem is poorly-controlled Parkinson's disease isn't any less laborious than taking care of a patient whose main problem is, say, poorly controlled hypertension.

 

[Leukocyte]

I agree that at times, your patient encounters are more oriented to a specific problem, but I would imagine that taking care of a patient whose main problem is poorly-controlled Parkinson's disease isn't any less laborious than taking care of a patient whose main problem is, say, poorly controlled hypertension.

I was looking for a field that does not involve too much (continuous) patient contact. A field that is halfway between Pathology and the carzyness of primary care. From what you describe, Neurology involves continuous patient contact, and is as crazy as primary care (even though it is a specialty). I guess Neurology is not for me.

 

[Fencer]

I was looking for a field that does not involve too much (continuous) patient contact. A field that is halfway between Pathology and the carzyness of primary care. From what you describe, Neurology involves continuous patient contact, and is as crazy as primary care (even though it is a specialty). I guess Neurology is not for me.

It depends....

There are areas in Neurology where your work load will be 60-80 patients a week. In others, it would be 30 patients a week or less, and then studies (i.e.: EMGs, EEGs, Sleep, EPs, EMU, OR studies, etc.). Some are just Hospitalist or Neuro-intensivists. Pretty much, you have a spread from Clinic to the Neurophysiology lab.

 

[minstral]

nothing seems right for you. Ive seen your posts before.
Very immature. First you want neurology, you get one opinion from a random person on a website no less and now neurology is not for you.
Grow up. figure out what you want to do. Investigate in the real world what is right for you, not some blind anonymous opinion poll.