<p>I agree with Wirefox…but sometimes even that isn’t enough. A classmate of D’s was diagnosed with juvenile lupus when they were in middle school — and this is a very, very serious disease in adolescents – and it took nearly two months for her to get in to an appointment with the pediatric rheumatologist at the Children’s Hospital. Apparently there are only a couple of pediatric rheumatologists in the entire metro area, and unless you’re admitted to the hospital, wait times for new patients really are that long. But, I gather that her local doc was able to call and consult with someone by phone, even though the kid couldn’t yet get in as a patient with the consultant. So, that might be a possibility.</p>
<p>Happy to report back that working through my PCP I was able to get an appointment for next week - a month earlier than originally scheduled. </p>
<p>Interesting that others commented on the length of their wait for seeing a rheumatologist as that is what I am seeing. Must be a shortage of rheumatologists?? Maybe a good idea for all of those with kids in medical school.</p>
<p>My oldest son is in his fourth year of medical school and is currently applying to internal medicine residency programs. His ultimate goal is to sub specialize, probably in cardiology. Every interview he has gone on, 7 so far and 5 to go, he is usually the only or one of the few American students to be interviewed. For some reason fewer Americans are going into internal medicine and its subspecialties. Many of these foreign medical grads will end up staying in the US to practice, but I wonder if the shortage of sub specialists has to do with the lack of US applicants? I know US medical students have enormous debt and perhaps do not want to train for 7+ years on top of 8 years of college and medical school, but it does seem curious there are fewer US students applying for internal medicine. My husband went through the same process 20 years ago and internal medicine was popular back then and very competitive with US students.</p>
<p>Spouse is in healthcare have never waited more then 1 day for any appointment,get moved to front of line for all bloodwork,ekgs,etc</p>
<p>My doctor’s office never turns away a patient in need. However, sometimes you can wait a couple of hours if there are a few serious emergencies on the day you are there. It’s inconvenient when you do have to wait, but worth it when you are the one with the emergency. They keep a list of people to call when there are cancellations. I don’t know why every practice doesn’t do that. ANyone know?</p>
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It works both ways - I know of many instances where a physician who’s been practicing for decades didn’t keep up with technology. eg. there was a veteran general surgeon who never had confidence to do a lap chole, and even when directed by the surgical committee not to do open choles, would schedule the laparoscopic and then during the procedure find a reason to do the open.</p>