What is your ideal doctor?

[mshheaddoc]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Interesting article ... mentioning Fox's hit TV show "HOUSE MD"
link


I know I wouldn't want Dr. Greg!

 

[THP]

I didn't read the entire article but it did mention something I don't usually think about - being thorough. I am just finishing up my pre-clinical years and all I ever hear is "this is the right way to do something but you will never do it that way in the real world because you won't have time."

In talking with friends and family, thoroughness is something they often complain about.

 

[QuikClot]

There is such a thin line between being thorough and wasting time, energy and money on a bunch of unnecessary assessments. And sometimes there is no line. Then there's patient comfort in the equation. Do we backboard every 20-yr-old who slipped in the shower and cut his foot? I don't care; I'm on the clock, and rigid patients are easy to move. But it makes for a long day, strapped down to that backboard.

Watching the experienced medics in my company, most of them seem to be quite thorough -- whether because they learned from experience or un-thorough medics don't last. So it's probably a good quality to strive for.

 

[SkyeJ]

There is also a line between being efficient and being resistant to any investigation just to force the patient to make multiple appointments for the same complaint. Some primary care doctors I've worked with dismissed most complaints within 2-3 minutes of the visit and encouraged the patients to make another appointment if the symptoms persisted. A mix of laziness and setting up for multiple visits.

There is such a thin line between being thorough and wasting time, energy and money on a bunch of unnecessary assessments. And sometimes there is no line. Then there's patient comfort in the equation.

 

[deleted87716]

There is also a line between being efficient and being resistant to any investigation just to force the patient to make multiple appointments for the same complaint. Some primary care doctors I've worked with dismissed most complaints within 2-3 minutes of the visit and encouraged the patients to make another appointment if the symptoms persisted. A mix of laziness and setting up for multiple visits.

I don't think it's ever a good idea to dismiss a patient's complaint entirely. However, there are practical limitations to what can be accomplished in a single office visit, and it's often necessary to prioritize what will be addressed today, and what will be addressed on a subsequent visit. Thouroughness demands this, in fact.

 

[McDoctor]

I do often wonder if patients prefer to have all of their complaints addressed during an office visit, at the expense of thoroughness, or if most prefer thoroughness even though it would require multiple visits for multiple complaints.
I try to get a sense of which complaints are causing the patient the most concern and devote more time to that, but clearly there are times when the chief complaint is a less pressing issue in my eyes and at the same time something that the patient mentions as an aside warrants more discussion. (i.e. the patient who comes in for acne but is also overweight and prehypertensive). I think sometimes we come off as less empathetic and thorough in a patient's eyes because there is not always a direct correlation between that which the patient is concerned about and that which we as doctors know need to be discussed and addressed and investigated in the best interest of the patient.

 

[SkyeJ]

A friend had his sore elbow diagnosed with tennis elbow/repetitive strain injury. He went in for about 5 visits over an 8 month period, got 3 different types of anti-inflammatories, and a referral to a physiotherapist and not once got an X-Ray requisition. He was later diagnosed with a rare tumour.