GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ever feel like your doctor is in a rush to get you out the door when you come in for a visit? You’re not just imagining things. One study finds physicians give a patient an average of just 11 seconds to describe their issue before cutting them off.
Researchers from the University of Florida determined that for all the waiting we do after we arrive at a medical practitioner’s office, its the doctors who seem to have the least amount of patience. The study shows that just a third of physicians give patients adequate time to explain why they’re there.
“Our results suggest that we are far from achieving patient-centered care,” says study co-author Naykky Singh Ospina in a release, adding that medicals specialists proved to be in the biggest hurry, compared to primary care physicians.
Singh Ospina, who led the research team, sought to examine the flow of conversation between clinicians and patients. More importantly, researchers wanted to see how viable it was for the most important person in the room — the patient, of course — to lead the discussion. Her researchers secured videos of consultations that were filmed in clinics across the U.S. as training sessions for the physicians between 2008 and 2015.
Examining doctor-patient conversations
The team specifically analyzed the first few minutes of the 112 consultations, looking to find out how frequently doctors let the patients dictate the conversation. This was done through inquiries such as, “Tell me what brings you in today,” or “What can I do for you today?” If patients were given the opportunity to set the agenda, the researchers then timed the responses to see how long they could speak before the doctor interrupted them.
The results show that just 36% of doctors ask questions that allowed patients to set the agenda, but two-thirds (67%) of those patients were interrupted after responding. Researchers calculated the doctors cut patients off 11 seconds on average into a response, while those who were able to describe their issue in full needed only six seconds to do so.
“If done respectfully and with the patient’s best interest in mind, interruptions to the patient’s discourse may clarify or focus the conversation, and thus benefit patients,” says Singh Ospina. “Yet, it seems rather unlikely that an interruption, even to clarify or focus, could be beneficial at the early stage in the encounter.”
Burnout to blame?
Researchers also found that only 20% of specialists give patients the opportunity to describe their issue at the onset of a consultation. Of course, it’s certainly possible it may be because they’ve already been briefed on a patient’s problem through a referral or a nurse’s inquiry. Conversely, half of primary care physicians reviewed in the study inquired about a patient’s agenda off the bat.
Still, Singh Ospina notes the importance of physicians — even if they’d previously been alerted to a patient’s reason for visiting — to allow people to discuss their concerns right away.
“Even in a specialty visit concerning a specific matter, it is invaluable to understand why the patients think they are at the appointment and what specific concerns they have related to the condition or its management,” she says.
As for reasons behind being in such a hurry, the authors suggest burnout that many doctors experience could prevent them from adequately serving their patients needs. Other factors include time constraints or simply not receiving strong enough training on how to communicate properly with patients.
The study is published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
This post was originally published on July 20, 2018.
Web designers stop after 3.
… and memebers of the media don’t understand the question in the first place.
And ‘studies’ are getting whackier and whackier.
Well, the PCP has morphed into a “call screener” of sorts. They dont really do much other than refer you to a specialist, who in turn many times refers you back to the PCP for MANY things out of their area. the days of Doc Adams on Gunsmoke are long long gone. Technology doesnt really solve problems, it creates new ones, so a zero sum game…
I would say Technology does solve problems…but regulation and red tape stifle the timely and useful implementation of that technology.
CREATES NEW AND DEADLY PROBLEMS TOO!
CANNOT DISAGREE WITH THAT STATEMENT. THAT HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE AS WELL!
Why are you yelling?
My doctor at the VAMC in Omaha, NE, pays attention to every word I utter. She has conversed with me at length during appointments and long after I was checked out/treated. At 63, I’ve never had a more attentive physician. The “study” has a blinding blind spot.
Same with my husband. The VA allows the doctors to spend quality time with the patient. Medicare and insurance companies have regular doctors very pressured for time. Especially with all the paper work requirements
LOL. Yeah, the VA and military medicine have a *great* track record of medical excellence AND keeping superfluous paperwork to a minimum. /sarc
As a veteran, the lower you are on their priority table, the longer you’ll wait for a response from your PCP or their nursing staff. I couldn’t get a call back from an outpatient clinic despite calling a dozen different times.
I’ve been going to the same VAMC (although my PCPs have changed) since 1973 and don’t have a single complaint.
THEN YOU MUST HAVE ALZHEIMERS OR WERE A GENERAL! YOURS IS THE EXCEPTION AND NOT THE RULE!
Count yourself lucky. A buddy of mine was left in an exam room. After 2 hrs, he left the room to find that the lights were turned off and that the place had been closed (and he was locked in) before addressing his issues. Apocryphal? Yes, and there are millions of others who have faced similarly sh!tty service from our socialized medicine attempt.
This is what you end up with when you have the government involved in health care.
NO THE STUDY IS ACCURATE!
Troll stalker. How cute. Blocked.
HEY REJECT! YOU ARE THE TROLL!
?????
Are you insane?
NO REJECT! YOU SHOULD GET YOURSELF TESTED TO SEE IF YOU ARE!
I agree with you, the Doctor I have at my VAMC is good and seems in some cases he is doing more for me than the other Doctors. I get really frustrated with some of the other Doctors I have. If I feel they are not listening, I have changed Doctors. On the other hand, the place I just moved from, the VAMC was bad, that’s why I moved.
You realize the study isn’t about your personal physician, right?! Congratulations on having found a good doctor. My primary physician schedules enough time for appointments and listens, as well. But the vast majority of doctors I’ve encountered, and particularly the orthopedic surgeons, are arrogant and disinclined to listen to patients in order to understand the ailments they’ve been hired to treat. It’s maddening.
Feel better now, sweetie? If not, have your physician refer you to a competent psychologist/psychiatrist. There IS help, you know?
Help for being right? Ouch! #thanksgovernmentschools
Yep, and then you start asking pointed questions and require reasonable answers. If your doctor doesn’t measure up to your standards get another or you can file a complaint with your state’s governing board … or both. You do not have to accept poor performance or bad attitudes, just be prepared to back up your claims with names, dates and places. In other words, facts and not opinions.
You sound like a horrible person.
“bad attitudes” Who are you to demand people have an “attitude” that YOU find pleasant enough?
Looks like you are one of those people who goes to doctors, not for treatment or help, but to find one to sue. Is that how you make your living? by suing people you envy or don’t like?
Do they segregate hypochondriac middle aged women patients from normal people in the data samples? I’m only half kidding. Women in general way over-talk. When comes to health issues, it gets beyond absurd.
Sure. Anything more than a grunt is “over-talk.”
When stuck on a checkout line or subway besides 2 up-talking women, who employ the word “like” 3 times a sentence, grunting don’t seem half bad.
And of course, women NEVER drone on endlessly when going on about their medical issues. It’s surely all in my head, lo.
OMG. A bunch of guys is just as bad and way louder.
NO. MEN SPEAK TO COMMUNICATE INFORMATION. WOMEN SPEAK TO BE HEARD AND APPEAR SMARTER THAN THEY ARE!
Dudes can be loud. But going on averages. I have yet to hear a man complain about his woman: If only she would talk more!
I love being a stereotype!
Yeah, they cruise WebMD and feel they have half of the disease/condition roster.
But remember , most all “have” “their” fibromyalgia after turning 35….
😉
Nail – meet head. “Fibromyalgia” is just a fancy way of saying: “Woman who dreads the idea of working.”
Actually, Fibromyalgia is not a real diagnosis. It’s a label they slap on patients, when they have no idea what the underlying cause is for symptoms.
AND TREAT IT WITH NEURONTIN WHICH CAUSES PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS INCLUDING SUICIDE.
Don’t forget about “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”!
The fact that the two imaginary diseases only seem to affect middle aged depressed neurotic women never seems to be adequately addressed or considered….
People who get that Dx really need to look into autoimmune issues like Sjögrens as an underlying factor.
It takes about 5-7 years to get a Sjogrens diagnosis, because of people like the above commenters who dismiss real symptoms of real human beings because of a bigotry that would trigger protests from any other demographic segment. You may lose your job, declare bankruptcy, lose your home, and end up living in a refrigerator box under an overpass by the time the blood work is even ordered. On the bright side, we can expect their symptoms to be ignored as well, and their Stage IV terminal asscancer will even things out.
YOU KNOW WHY THEY DO? THEY BELIEVE IT MAKES THEM APPEAR SMARTER THAN THEY ACTUALLY ARE.
Oh really, you mofo!?!?! Women have a 50% higher chance of getting an incorrect initial diagnosis after having a heart attack. Women are about 30% more likely than men to have symptoms of a stroke misdiagnosed and be erroneously sent home from the emergency room. And even once they are diagnosed, women are less likely to receive the clot-busting drug tPA than men. Many autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and thyroid disorders,are more common in women. Overall, 75% of Americans with autoimmune diseases are women, and it takes a person with an autoimmune disease an average of 4.6 years and five doctors before getting a correct diagnosis. Those kidney stones, appendicitis, kidney disease, liver cancer, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, that’s just women complaining, their stomachs always hurt. That fatigue isn’t leukemia or multiple myeloma, it’s just women being lazy, is that what you think? Is that why our outcomes are so much worse than men–your deep severe psychological problems and personality disorders that make you a deaf SOB?
Mofo. very nice. Did you pick up that devastating tag by hanging out at your local junior high playground? Oh snap.
Look. Women can’t simply shut the bleep up. I challenge you to find me a man with wife or girlfriend whose main complaint is: I wish my girl would talk more!!!
I might be a deaf SOB. With “severe psychological problems” Most likely from a female that has a deep psychological need to talk her a** off. As a male, I’m not alone.
BTW. If you are such an expert in medical science. Why don’t you shut up (detect a trend?) and get to work on solving medical problems? Oh. It seems–shocker–you as a woman needs a man’s help.
lol!
Toby Keith’s “I wanna talk about me” might be an appropriate theme song for most married men. My husband actually laughed out loud the first time he heard it.
You made me laugh! I’m female, and I agree I talk way too much. But having worked most of my adult life before motherhood in a male dominated industry (military/private security), I can translate to “Man”, and usually stick to that at the medical office.
Because I’ve worked in special education, AND volunteered over 1,000 hours a year (before kids) in a therapy environment for people with actual diagnosed disabilities, much worse than the hypochondriac middle aged women, are the parents of “special needs kids”, whose special needs resumes at the playground make me realize chances are that the perfectly functional child’s mother has Munchhausen’s-by-Proxy, and the PARENT just likes getting the attention of doctors, and the pity of the relatives.
I mean, if you tell me with a straight face that the special ed teacher as well as one of the therapists who knows your child’s exact diagnosis dared insult you by suggesting your snowflake get off the short bus to join normal students by integrating into normal classes, I’m fairly sure your kid’s not actually developmentally challenged. Another conversation was a mother actually asking me how her child compared to my patients. Ummm… Well, one is a vegetable learning to grasp a ball at age 12, and the other is a perfectly normal child with a mentally unstable mother. I started talking about weather. Alienated that person a few years later by not donning a pink hat and yelling profanities on the street corner. lol
Sorry for talking too much. I’m a waaahmen. But I hope that highlights my pet peeve.
That’s about 6 seconds more than most of the patients listen to their doctors.
Why do you think more than 250,000 people in the United States die every year because of medical mistakes, making it the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer, according to a recent study by Johns Hopkins?
You vote up your own comments? LOL
Don’t defend an industry that sucks down 20% of the U.S. gdp.
Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit, is it? Intentionally projecting your fantasy onto me gets you blocked, liar (what a fortunate – for me – and fitting username). If you had responded as an intelligent adult, my response would be to engage you in discussion/debate. Obviously, you haven’t a clue what the parameters for either are. Buh bye, child.
I think you are an AI bot, Collection Dept.
YOU JUST DESCRIBED YOURSELF!
Dismissed.
ONCE AGAIN YOU DESCRIBE HOW WE SEE YOU AND HOW WE REACT TO YOUR COMMENTS! YOUR DISMISSED!
Collections Dept. I’m voting down your comment.
IT DOESN’T REGISTER.
YOU MAKE NO COMMENTS WORTHY OF UPVOTING!
YES THEY ARE HATEFUL AND GREEDY
I WAS IN THE ER BED AND I HEARD THE DOCTOR OUTSIDE CALL ME FAT ALBERT AND ANOTHER DOCTOR CALL ME THE BLOB
YES I DID WRITE THE PRESIDENT OF THE HOSPITAL A LETTER!!!!!!!!
My dad’s record, which my sister obtained after his death, had a notation on one of them, “Son, PIA.” A retired psychiatrist friend told me what that meant. It means son is a pain in the ass. That was referring to me, apparently visiting my dad too much.
THAT IS VERY HATEFUL AND YOU SHOULD WRITE THAT HOSPITAL PREISDENT!!!!!!!
YES I DID CALL THE LAWYER BECAUSE HE CALLED ME FAT ALBERT AND THE BLOB BECAUSE HEAVY FOLKS GET THE DISCRIMINATIONS
THAT LAWYER WOULD NOT TAKE THE CASE HE WANTED CASH MONEY UP FRONT AND I DID NOT HAVE NO CASH MONEY
You might like the book, “Wheat Belly” by a cardiologist. He says since the 1940s, and especially since the 1960s, wheat has been so bred around that 99% of it grown today is actually a low grade toxin that causes all kinds of health problems, including obesity. Yes, we have individual responsibility, but the USDA “Food Pyramid” and modern wheat varieties are two of the major reasons for the obesity and diabetes and other epidemics. He had patients, and he himself too, who ran miles every day and yet gained weight, gained weight, gained weight, even some marathon runners.
The same “Food Pyramid” that we’re supposed to teach to Patients is nearly identical to the one that we used on the family ranch to fatten cattle. Most of the herd never had the time to develop high cholesterol.
It would have been cruelty to put the stock on Statin meds anyway. That sh!t is poison.
So you were looking for a payout for a comment you overheard? Why? What makes you think you are entitled to money from someone who called you fat, especially if “fat” fits the bill?
AL BUNDY DID.
Newsflash Mr. birdfish: no doctor, and probably no other person on the planet can help you, you have to help yourself. If you don’t care about yourself how do you think a doctor is going to care?
What makes you think it was from “visiting” your dad and not just YOU? Maybe you were a pain in the ass.
THEN LOSE SOME WEIGHT. GET A BODY BLADE PRO FROM QVC, AND EAT LESS.
Yes, doctors can be rude. I’ve heard them use the “N” word. Honest Injun.
Play on numbers/ statistics. These figures are gleaned by going through medical records of deceased patients (trust me when I say that reviewing virtually any medical chart on hospital patients will uncover some error) and finding some potential/dangerous error. The assumption/ conclusion then is that the error played a role in the demise of the patient, something that can not always be proven.
When asked simple questions like, “How many times a night do you get up to pee?” a majority don’t answer with the only answer asked for, a NUMBER. Patients get interrupted largely because they go off topic so readily.
Arrogance, unwilling to listen, more than willing to throw the latest designer pharma at you to mask your symptoms. My brother died of cancer at age 38 because the doctor wouldn’t listen to him about the tumor he could feel in his throat for 18 months. “Here, take this prescription Malox”. I don’t trust you or your ilk, you do it for the money and prestige and damn your patients in the process.
My dad died 6 days after emergency back surgery, and about 20 minutes after a radioactive dye injection, of a pulmonary embolism. No doctors he went to figured out it was an osteoporosed spot in his back that was the problem for the few years before. Steroid injection in the hip and high blood pressure medicine was what he got. Turns out both are bad for bones. The steroids do bad things to bone. The HBP medicine interferes with K vitamins, which causes calcium loss and bone problems. What they did before hurt him. What they did after his back broke hurt him. When he was wheeled back to his room after the dye injection, a nurse in the room said, “What’s he doing in a wheelchair, he’s supposed to be on a gurney.” The dye probably clumped up and killed him, in addition to loosening blood clots. His legs had been sweaty the night before, but no nurses or anyone noted it, and he probably had clots the night before. Nobody was paying sufficient attention to anything. This was 21 years ago. His bill for just the hospital stay and nothing else, was $11,500. He was an organ donor; they harvested only skin, eye, and bone tissue because of the clots and the radioactive dye. I tricked a nice lady in the hospital administration, a couple years later, into revealing how much money the hospital made handling my dad’s donated tissues. I’d heard that they gained financially from donations. I confirmed it. They made over 4 times as much from the very limited donations than they did the 6 night, 7 day stay: $47,000 reward for basically killing him.
So sorry for your loss. Don’t blame yourself-you did the best you could with the knowledge you had at the time. Everyone assumes that the medical staff cares and is doing their job. I found out otherwise when in the hospital waiting for stent surgery on the cardiac floor. The morning nurse came running to my room to attach the monitoring leads that had fallen off some 7 hours earlier. No one except her even noticed.
That’s a terrible story, very sorry for your loss. I think if you’re old it’s best to not get surgeries, ever. Everything that can possibly go wrong probably will.
Contrast dye of any type (gadolinium, iodine-based, etc.) doesn’t clot up in the bloodstream and won’t loosen clots in the lungs… Just so you know radioactive dye would only be injected if he were a cancer patient. If he were being tested post op for a PE it would be a CTA using iodine-based contrast, which is designed to detect PEs and would not loosen the clots or form its own. This contrast would travel through the blood to the kidneys, and filtered out into the bladder within 10 minutes or less. If the clot was there, it was there. Unfortunately PEs can strike very quickly especially in those with HBP. The whole steroid and hypertension med situation is a different story i couldn’t elaborate on.
As I recall, I believe it was a gallium scan. As Wikipedia tells me, “Gallium salts are taken up by tumors, inflammation, and both acute and chronic infection, allowing these pathological processes to be imaged. Gallium is particularly useful in imaging osteomyelitis that involves the spine, and in imaging older and chronic infections that may be the cause of a fever of unknown origin”. Two doctors I talked with in later years said that a break in a bone like he had is often a sign of cancer. Had I any knowledge and any recognition of the danger, I’d have walked over to the ER and found the most senior doctor and told him of my dad’s sweaty legs, immediately upon seeing it.
And here’s another reason to trust doctors only for the simplest of first aid things and the very few other times you should ever go to them, due to life-threatening circumstances. Most anesthesiologists do not use brain monitors to make sure they don’t damage your brain or you don’t wake up during surgery. I think, from personal experience, it is likely that hernia surgery for me, resulted in damage to the part of the brain from which emotions arise, specifically feelings of love, and also PTSD. This, because I don’t experience love feelings since that hernia surgery, and I suffered what can only be described as panic attacks afterward. Becoming consciously aware of surgery, it would seem, would result in PTSD because there you are naked under bright lights before a bunch of people being cut on. I don’t recall this happening, but something happened that was not good.
YOUR REACTING TO THE DRUG.
32 years later, really?
Fine, don’t go to the doctor, it is not going to hurt his feelings. Oh, wait, you were stupid enough to vote away your ability to buy medications across the counter like in many other countries and now have to go to the doctor and beg for needed drugs.
Cool. Are you going to give yourself chemo if you get cancer?
Yes, but not with mustard gas, with the same type protocol practiced by John Richarson, MD, as detailed in Laetrile Case Histories: The Richardson Clinic Experience, if I developed cancer, and could get ahold of everything and afford it. His patients had a 14% survival rate for metastasized cancer, 80% for non-metastasized cancer. He estimated that if everyone got enough amygdalin in their diet, something like 98% of people never would get cancer. And it only cost people about $2500 for his treatment in the early 70s. I am beginning to include foods rich in amygdalin in my diet to reduce the risk of ever getting cancer. You can save your chemical weapons and chemical weapon gloves for somebody else.
Chemo kills MORE people than cancer . It killed my mom . I would never , EVER take chemo . It also happens to be the biggest $$ maker in the medical industry .
yeah. doctors suck, until they don’t and you need them.
Well perhaps if we could have kept the doctors we liked…
If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. Obama is a butt.hole.
Great, your homeopath, naturalist, witch doctor and chiropractor will be more than happy to listen to ad infinitum. Of course that is all that they can actually do….
You’re about 50 years behind in the research, ya simpleton. Chiropractic outcomes put MD outcomes to shame.
I JUST CREATED A PETITION TO THE WHITE HOUSE. THE TITLE IS RETURNING JUSTICE TO THE PEOPLE THROUGH LAW. READ IT, SIGN IT, AND FORWARD IT TO OTHERS TO SIGN.
I just created a petition to the White House as well. The title is “Returning the CAPS LOCK key to the off position through pressing it once”. Read it, sign it, and forward it to others to sign.
Pack yer caps lock .
So, is a chiropractor going to cure cancer, or control diabetes, or other major diseases?
I like chiropractors; I use one to help with my migraines, but comparing their outcomes to an MD’s outcome is apples and oranges.
Research consistently shows there is NO objective benefit to chiropracty. Obviously you can’t do a double blind study and the placebo effect is great. Patient’s state that the feel better (subjective) but return to work, pain medicine usage, etc (objective measures) are the same.
Hancock MJ, Maher CG, Latimer J, et al. Assessment of diclofenac or spinal manipulative therapy, or both, in addition to recommended first-line treatment for acute low back pain: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2007;370(9599):1638–1643.
Hoiriis KT, Pfleger B, McDuffie FC, et al. A randomized clinical trial comparing chiropractic adjustments to muscle relaxants for subacute low back pain. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2004;27(6):388–398.
Lin CW, Haas M, Maher CG, Machado LA, van Tulder MW. Cost-effectiveness of guideline-endorsed treatments for low back pain: a systematic review. Eur Spine J. 2011;20(7):1024–1038.
Assendelft WJ, Morton SC, Yu EI, Suttorp MJ, Shekelle PG. Spinal manipulative therapy for low back pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(1):CD000447.
Jüni P, Battaglia M, Nüesch E, et al. A randomised controlled trial of spinal manipulative therapy in acute low back pain. Ann Rheum Dis. 2009;68(9):1420–1427.
Walker BF, French SD, Grant W, Green S. A Cochrane review of combined chiropractic interventions for low-back pain. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2011;36(3):230–242.
I know of a couple people whose children when born were messed up in the neck by doctors twisting their heads back and forth too far. The kids had severe digestive problems. Extremely expensive formula was the prescription. But at least in one of the cases, a chiropractor identified the problem as a pinched nerve from some out of place disc(s), which when treated to get them back in and stay in, completely solved the digestive problem. So, that research doesn’t mean much to me, and a large and growing percentage of the public know more than ever that research can be bought.
Even better is the number of studies, prospective and retrospective, met-analyses looking for a benefit to acupuncture. Over 5500 of ‘em to date and not ONE with enough power to do more than “suggest” a benefit. My favorites are the “janitor studies” – getting some random person to put on a white coat and act like they know what they’re doing and patients did just as well as getting “legitimate acupuncture.” But no one talks about those. The vast majority of “alternative” (i.e. – NON scientific, folklore-based) “therapies” like cupping, acupuncture, homeopathy, bloodletting, reiki, chiropractic are unproven in the scientific sense of the word. But patients LOVE blowing their money on it, convincing themselves folie-a-deux like that they’re improving. Do recall the old maxim “nobody sees a chiropracter once.”
CHIROPRACTORS SOLVE PROBLEMS. IF IT WERE NOT FOR A CHIROPRACTOR I WOULD NOT BE WALKING TODAY!
No, we dont want to listen to that drivel either.
DR. CRANCER WOULDN’T LISTEN TO RICHARD. RICHARD HAD A STROKE AT 46 YEARS OLD.
John, turn off the CAPS LOCK, man. People are trying to tell you that you look like an ass typing in all CAPS. It could be that you are an ass and like to type like that, however…perhaps premature advice on our part.
That’s when you grill the doctor with questions or find another doctor. If you know there’s a problem and they ignore it, that’s a bad doctor. More often than not though, the … guy is right, the large number of patients add unnecessary details and stories when asked simple but important questions that will aid in diagnosis or treatment when doctors have limited time to see multiple patients. Medical doctors are there to diagnose and treat, not to listen to people’s stories, problems, and to make them feel appreciated.
I actually see the Nurse Practitioner instead of the doctor; I also write down any questions I have so as not to add unnecessary details. It works out great.
I see a nurse practitioner, too. She sees all my kids for checkups. If it’s something simple, like ear infection, 8th round of mastitis, or renewal of prescription, I see her, too. And she can write referrals to specialists when I need them for something involving more specialization. Otherwise I avoid medical offices.
What an earlier commenter said is correct, a chiropractor can help fix some types of migraines. I had stronger and stronger pills pushed on me for almost two decades for worsening headaches by doctors who never even bothered to do any tests (Nordic model socialized healthcare is so wonderful!) Now, if I have a headache building up, I go to the chiropractor first, it helps most of the time, since my migraines are triggered by tension in my shoulders and neck. The cause is being treated in lieu of managing the symptoms.
I haven’t seen an actual doctor for 15 years.
lol and that Chiro migraine person was me!!!! I’m going through menopause now so mine are diminishing because they were hormonal, but my daughter goes for hers.
I started having to go in with my mom to doctor visits because she was not only hard of hearing but wants to talk about everything except the reason for the visit. 92 Years old and not going to listen to reason or understand you’ve got like 10 minutes to get this done. At the same time all kinds of data requirements cause the doctor to spend half the time tapping on the laptop keyboard.
The Federal Government via Obamacare mandated the use of electronic record keeping and if a practice did not comply, they lost Medicare reimbursement rates. Unfortunately this impacted patient care especially at small physician practices. If there is a larger practice in your area, might be a good idea to investigate transferring there. Large practices and especially those associated with a hospital’s health system use scribes to pound the keys while the doctor examines patient.
Man, that is the exact opposite of my experiences in the medical offices I’ve worked and work at currently. The larger the clinic or care center, the larger the pt load on the provider. I use Kaiser as an example because I’ve been there as a patient, but locally I’ve also used very large clinics and hospital urgent care facilities for care. The Kaiser experience was probably the best, because it was the shortest visit. In the years I was with Kaiser, I never saw a doctor, only PAs and NPs. The longest visit I had lasted less than 20 minutes to clean, suture and dress a wound. In all cases, the provider spent less than 1 minute talking to me before hitting the door and telling me to go downstairs to get my RX. Clinics locally are far worse. At least at Kaiser, we didn’t have to wait for an hour before being rushed out. Our local clinics have a 2-4 hour wait, often standing room only. The one across town has a large sign above the door stating, “One complaint per visit. If you have multiple issues, you will need multiple appointments! No exceptions!”. Even with that rule, the providers are routinely expected to see 40+ pts per day. As such, they schedule follow-ups waaaaay out. For example, when diabetes is suspected and blood work ordered, the clinics will schedule the follow-up appt to discuss the results 6-8 months out, where the office at which I work will schedule the follow up the same day we receive the results. The larger the facility, the larger the overhead and production demand on the providers. Scribe in the exam room or not, the name of the big facility game is always, “numbers”. Only the small practice or small group practice (Primary Care) can afford to schedule more time for patients, in my experience running a small PCP office and frequently dealing with other PCPs in the area. To the Obamacare mandate, HIPAA was in effect since ’97 (I think). The design was to implement electronic medical records since day one. As much as I loathe Obamacare, that train was en route long before his tenure.
WERE NOT TALKING OLD BITTYS, WERE TALKING ABOUT DIRECT AND TO THE POINT MEN!
The number of times I get up to pee varies, Doctor. Sometimes it’s every two hours and now and then it can be as long as four hours between trips to the toilet. Now, tell me how to give this answer with one number?
He didn’t ask how many hour between piss sessions. He asked, “How many times do you get up to pee during the night?” (4 times Monday, 3 times Tuesday, 5 times Wednesday…equals 12 trips…divided by 3 days…) “I go pee about 4 times a night, Doc.”
Maybe, but you’ll find out so much more to use in your Dx if you *actually* *listen*.
Apparently this is no longer a skill taught in Med school.
(If you have a PCP or a specialist who *doesn’t* listen, fire them and hire a competent clinician, folks.)
i change PCP 6 times in 2 years,in my experience they are all the same. and specialists are the worst
I know a guy who smoked PCP back in the 70’s and was never right again .
PCP stand for PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER
BoonieRat knows that.
And some respond, “I don’t get up..I just pee!”
Pick out the most arrogant posts on this page and you will find the doctors here, folks. Do not trust them, get secnod, third and fourth opinions. Hold your insurance plan over the coals.
MDs only want to figure out a way to drug or cut you. If that isn’t in the story, they are outta the room in a flash.
SURGEONS PRESCRIBE SURGERY AND INTERNIST PRESCRIBE PILLS. A PSYCHOLOGY TEACHER ONCE FAMOUSLY SAID SOMETHING LIKE THAT!
And both think they are entitled to a new Mercedes every year at your expense.
DON’T KNOW ABOUT THAT, BUT SOME ATTITUDES COULD USE A SWIFT KICK IN THE ASS AND A JAP SLAP TO GET THEIR ATTENTION.
HEY I JUST CREATED A PETITION TO THE PRESIDENT. THE TITLE IS RETURNING JUSTICE TO THE PEOPLE THROUGH LAW. READ IT, SIGN IT, AND FORWARD IT TO OTHERS.
Why else would a patient be seeing a surgeon if not to have some kind of surgery? You do not go to see a surgeon as a preventive measure or to even diagnose a problem. They exist to do very specific things.
if the only tool you have is a hammer , every thing look like a nail
Docs get paid according to the number of procedures and clicks on the electronic health records they were forced to start using. I think they’re all burnt out. Watch out of you happen to be standing too close to a cardiac cath lab, they might just wheel you in next…
What a shock!! You mean doctors get PAID for doing a procedure or seeing a patient??? How dare they!? What gives a person the idea that they should be paid for doing their jobs?
No one said they should not be paid.You are a doctor or you know one as doctors are the biggest scum bags on the planet.They are fake rote educated people.So what?Just because you study the body does not make you a demigod.Check out doctors who are /were innovative Now that is something.Not these snake oil peddlers who are into money man.There are of course great doctors but lets face it the majority of people are really stupid and or evil.Doctors or not.Welcome to the jacked world we live in man. I know it is pathetic but this is it.If the unwashed masses did not lick the boots of these enslavers we could have a nice world.Everyone defends people but the result is still very poor.You explain that one sir.I will wait for your answer.Good luck getting it.It does not exist.
Except when they donate their time on the side or work after hours at a free clinic, or offer free services to patients who are unable to pay. Then they don’t drug or cut you, I think…
Sure they do. They don’t know how to practice “medicine” any other way.
WHEN THEY SEND YOU THOSE BILLS JUST PUT THEM RIGHT IN THAT TRASH CAN!
Oh, I get it. You believe that your medical care should be free and doctors should not be paid for the work they do.
I have not idea what you do for a living but I would bet you want to get paid for doing it.
But, maybe your health just isn’t that important to you and you find doctors and medicine a bogus field altogether.
Or, maybe you are envious. Either way, if I were a doctor I would drop you from my patient list.
I CANNOT DO ANY WORKINGS BECAUSE I HAVE THE DIALYSIS AND HEART FAILINGS AND KINDNEY FAILINGS AND THE SUGAR DIABETES AND HIGH BLOOD AND ARTHRITIS AND SLEEPING APNEAS AND THE GOITERS AND RUBBINGS WHICH ARE INFECTIONS ON THE LEGS AND THE OBESITY FROM THE BAD GLANDS.
I NEED THAT MEDICAL CARE AND IT SHOULD BE FREE FOR POOR FOLKS
HEALTH CARE IS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!
Where is that in the constitution? I can’t seem to find it…
THE RIGHT TO OWN AND BEAR ARMS WITHOUT INFRINGEMENT IS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT. HEALTHCARE IS NOT A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!
Please cite your source on this “right”.
If you claim to deserve someone else’s labor, free of charge, please tell us how you differ from an 1860’s (democrat party, clearly) slave owner.
There is nothing in the Constitution about health care, hospital visits or doctors.
Stop listening to Bernie Sanders and his Communist pal Ocasio-Cortez. They’re selling what made Venezuela collapse. Health care is YOUR responsibility. If you don’t like that, move to Cuba where it’s “free.”
HOW ABOUT THIS. I WENT TO THE ER ON 1-2-2018, BECAUSE ON 1-29-2017 I COUGHED. MY LEFT LUNG FELT LIKE IT EXPLODED, I WAS SWOLLEN COULD NOT TALK, WALK, BLOW MY NOSE, TAKE A DUMP, EAT, OR DRIVE. THEN THE INSURANCE DENIED THE BILL AND GAVE NO REASON. I GOT STUCK WITH A $6,600 BILL. I WENT BACK TO THAT ER 2 MORE TIMES. ONE DR. DISCHARGED ME AND SAID THAT I WAS ALL RIGHT, EVEN THOUGH I COULD NOT GET UP OFF THE TABLE, WALK, TALK, OR BREATH. THE LEFT SIDE OF MY RIBS LOOKED LIKE A SPACE BAG THAT HAD THE AIR SUCKED OUT. THAT DR CALLED THE COPS ON ME. THREE COPS SHOWED UP, AND ONE HAD TO TAKE ME HOME BECAUSE THE AMBULANCE CAME TO GET ME. I FINALLY HAD TO DRIVE TO ANOTHER CITY AND GO TO ANOTHER ER AND GOT A GOOD DR. EVERYTIME THAT I COUGHED IT FELT LIKE A HAND GRENADE GOING OFF IN MY RIBCAGE, BECAUSE THE MUSCLES TORE EVERY TIME THAT I COUGHED!
Hospitals and doctors are not the same thing. What you are charged for when you go to an ER is not a doctors care but it was a hospital stay. Read your insurance policy and understand what it does and does not cover.
You sound like the kind of patient a reasonable doctor might be better off not taking care of.
Now all we have to do is find this “reasonable doctor”… I understands he hangs out with the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.
Insurance companies do not pay for second or third opinions. Are you going to pay out of your own pocket for three or more opinions? You probably get three different ones anyway.
Sure they do, you just go to a few different doctors and get examined. Don’t need to broadcast to anybody it’s a second/third opinion. You just have to pay your copay and deductible crap. I went to see 5 surgeons before deciding on which one I was to going to let cut me open. You have to persist and not give up.
If you want a second third or fourth opinion and your insurance company does not pay for it obviously you do. And should. No one else is responsible for you or your health care.
Pick out some of the posts where people are too cynical and stupid. Not all doctors are like that – Get back to me when you have a. heart attack and you’re waiting for the second, third and fourth opinions.
If you cannot trust doctors (as you said), what good is a 2nd, 3rd or 4th opinion….by other doctors? That doesn’t make any sense.
It’s often from expertise, not arrogance.
IF the history is accurate, brief, to the point (most of which his gained from med student or nursing staff), a GOOD doctor can give a reasonable best guess (reasoned, from a fund of knowledge gained over years or decades of experience and training), enough to treat the patient and/or order tests to confirm. This, especially, if the patient is “known” to the physician.
Remember what William Osler told us, that “it’s not so important what kind of disease the patient has as what kind of patient has the disease” (paraphrased).
If the patient is a clinging, needy, demanding, borderline personality disordered whiner with a literal shopping list of symptoms, issues, and wants what he/she wants when he/she wants it and every minute of the 15 minute appointment he/she paid for and tells you this, a good physician should in all good conscience fire those patients or send them to homeopaths, acupuncturists or a nurse practitioner who will happily prescribe them a Z-pak at the drop of a sniffle.
Bingo. Send the patients without actual physical ailments to those who can really only offer a bent ear.
SO SHIP THEM TO A CEMETERY?
As my Dermatologist walked into the examining room her first words were “Don’t say anything”. Needless to say I have a new Dermatologist in Rochester NY.
I NEED TO SEE THE SKIN DOCTOR BECAUSE I HAVE THOSE RUBBING SORES ON MY LEGS
THAT DOCTOR SAID NO
WE DO NOT TAKE YOU
THIS IS VERY WRONG
I HAD TO GO TO THE SURGERY DOCTOR INSTEAD
Did those rubbing sores on your legs grow so huge that they took up the entire room and depressed your all caps key?
I GET THE DIPPINGS IN THE WORLDPOOL BATH AND THEY ARE CLOSING UP
I would have said to her, “I’m saying something lady, buh bye!” You did good walking away from that!
and they want folks to get better medical health, keep your doctor and make it affordable – – why bother?
go to alternative Dr’s they listen because they actually want to solve the problem not bandaid it… Natural Health Dr’s studied the body can tell you what to take naturally to resolve the problem… regular Dr’s study PILLS>> take a pill for this and then take another pill for the reactions to other Pill.. 5 pills later and your sicker then the first visit… this country takes more PILLS than 12 countries combined…. over prescribed medicine 3rd LEADING DEATH in this country next Heart Disease & Cancer….
Right, because we do this for a living and know exactly what the issue is, we don’t need a patient prattling on for a 1/2 hour about their stomach pain, or whatever. Patients hate waiting in the waiting room 1/2 hour after their appointment, right? OK, so when you see the Dr., bottom line it and lets go!
YES THOSE GREEDY RICH DOCTORS DO NOT LISTEN
I HAVE THE KIDNEY FAILINGS AND THE SUGAR DIABETES AND THE SLEEPING APNEAS AND HIGH BLOOD AND THE OBESITIES AND ARTHRITIS
THE DOCTORS DO NOT LISTEN ONLY WANT TO SEND THAT BILL
THEY DO NOT WANT TO TAKE ME AND FIRE ME AS A PATIENT BECAUSE I HAVE THAT MEDICAL CARD
THEY ARE VERY HATEFUL AND GREEDY
I GET THOSE BILLS AND THEY GO RIGHT IN THAT TRASH CAN!!!!!!!!!
Whine on. Medical cartel and monopoly has created the mess. It’s got doctors practicing automaton medicine while their patients get worse. Nobody gets raises from their employer anymore. They just get to keep their ‘health’ insurance and pay a higher premium and deductible. Enjoy your second job to pay for your premiums and then go bankrupt with your insurance still.
I AM TO OLD TO DO THOSE WORKINGS AND ON SSI DIABILITY
I AM LUCKY MY SECTION 8 I HAVE HAD FOR MANY YEARS NOW POOR FOLKS HAVE TO EVEN WAIT FOR THAT
I WOULD BE HOMELESS WITHOUT THAT SECTION 8 AND STARVE WITHOUT THAT LINK CARD
Our privately owned central bank cartel and fractional banking system with perpetual built-in inflation of debt-based money, is part of the problem. Overzealous building codes and planning and zoning prevent construction of inexpensive homes even in the far reaches of the low population American west. We live in a dual income economy. If you’re a single person getting by, you’re doing well in this system.
YES THOSE GREEDY BANKERS DO KEEP THOSE HOUSES!!!!!!
THE PEOPLE DO LISTEN!!!!!!
THEY SHOULD HAVE TO GIVE THE FREE HOUSE TO POOR FOLKS
Kudos to you, sir! You are one “Next Level” Troll.
I suspect that you could go a long time indeed without starving… no matter the lack of food stamps.
I AM HEAVY SET FROM THE GLANDS
NOT EATINGS
You can improve one area yourself most likely – the “OBESITIES” – lose some and it would help in the other ‘areas’.
I would fire you as a patient as well. Who wants to take care of someone like you for free?
I HAVE THE MEDICAL CARD INSURANCE WHICH IS THE PUBLIC AID AND I HAVE THE MEDICARE INSURANCE FOR OLD FOLKS
I HAVE TWO INSURANCES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR THESE GREEDY RICH DOCTORS WHO ARE VERY HATEFUL.
THEY HAVE BIG FANCY CARS AND MANSIONS AND GO TO THE GOLF COURSE WHEN THEY SHOULD BE TAKING CARE OF THE SICK FOLKS!!!!!
Not when those insurance pay less than the cost it takes to care for someone that refuses to care for themselves.
Why don’t you go get a job and then offer to pay your employer more than your salary at the end of every shift? You seem like an idiot, but I suspect that even you will be nonplussed by this suggestion.
Someone is angry at those who have done better in life then they have!!! Is it doctors you don’t like or just someone who appears (to you) to be more successful? Have you ever thought that the anger and bitterness you carry inside has caused an awful lot of your ailments?
So you are obese, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis from obesity, and an inability to breath at night secondary to your massive weight AND you don’t pay even the ridiculously small co-pays on your government sponsored medicaid bills? And the doctor is the problem?!? Wow. Just, wow.
Four years of medical school after college, 3-7 years of residency 9and then fellowships for most surgeons) and doctors are supposed to make themselves slaves to fat entitled idiots who won’t put down the cupcakes? They are supposed to live their lives in unhappy indentured servitude to those who refuse to take care of the body that God gave them?!?
Well I think we have a pretty decent idea of why doctors make a good salary and you are in the condition in which you find yourself.
The idea of doctors listening to their patients for 11 seconds was the basis of an entire episode of the TV show Scrubs,
And they missed the indicators that she was going to commit suicide.
I think Collections Dept. is an AI bot.
What is needed is to strip control of medicine from the drug companies and MDs. We need a law at the federal level to restore to the citizen the right of the citizen to make their own health care choices. A person should be able to opt out of the drug company-MD system, and go to whatever other person or company they want, for whatever kind of treatment they want, with no state or federal laws preventing it. No boards of medicine, no legal standards of care, not the AMA, not the FDA, not anybody, once that citizen opts out, should be able to stop any kind of treatment or any person from providing it, no education required. Then we’d see actual cures and highly effective, inexpensive treatments for the majority of problems. If we went a step farther, we could nationalize and put into the public domain all patents related to discoveries and inventions which have been shelved by companies or the government, and really improve things. What we’ve got now, the majority of Americans now know, is extremely expensive health care with a lot of government-approved, truly harmful snake oil sales. People should be able to opt out of that and go to those who know how to actually solve problems.
This comment has something in it which the moderating corporation thinks should be approved before posting. It won’t allow reposting, either.
You actually want “control of medicine” stripped from doctors? Who the hell do YOU want in control then? Google?
You would prefer to get your diagnosis and healthcare from someone where “no education is required”??? feel free to do that. Go to whatever lunatic you would like. Good luck with that buddy.
You can already do that. Go to Mexico. But no insurance for unlicensed quack treatments.
Spent years going to various specialists for health issues that were constant and began interfering with family and work. Finally gave up on conventional doctors and went to a naturepathic physician, that was in July of 2010. In three weeks she found my health issue, a genetic health condition that was out of control. Conventional doctors only follow the text book, and if your complaints stray beyond that they make no effort to help you. Had I continued to follow the ‘conventional’ treatment plan I wouldn’t be here today!! There are many options out there, don’t settle for just one or even two and TRY even the unconventional, it just could save your life!!
How did a naturopath possibly discover a “genetic condition”? They could not draw out the basic shape of DNA/RNA if their life depended upon it!
I had a witch doctor scream gibberish and throw some poop at crippled raccoon. I feel great now. Really.