I would NEVER call my PCP or my husband’s PCP unless I called them at their office during office hours…or got their on all service and had them call me back. In the case of DH’s doc…we are good family friends. We have a lot of phone numbers for the family members…but these are NOT used for Doctor purposes…at all. Ever.
I don’t even wake up anymore w all the nighttime phone calls!
Medicine is no longer a calling as it was for me and H. The generation before us thought we were lazy wanting time off for vacation and not wanting to be on call 24/7. H actually did that for 6 years and it was terrible for family life and for him. Our generation mostly thinks that the work life balance that the current young doctors demand is great and frankly a long time in coming. It is now a job.
If your insurance no longer has a contract with the physician group - many would change to another group. People change insurances frequently due to cost. People and physicians move. Mobility in jobs and locations is more common. H and I just retired and our endocrinologist also retired. Ouch.
Times unfortunately have changed and I think overall for the better. Work life balance keeps families together and quality of life improves. Hours need to be limited and workload needs to be limited. Mistakes are more likely when tired and rushed. This is already in place in the training in internships and residencies. IMHO that was very wise.
My H is an OB/GYN, practicing for over 27 years. He recently got a call from a patient at 3 AM complaining of a stuffy nose or something. When he told her to call his office in the morning during business hours, she wanted him to make the appointment right then for her. He was home in bed! But practically, my H has acted as a primary care doctor for many women over the years. He’s even diagnosed some thyroid cancers and then referred them on. He is the managing founder of a 5 doctor private OB/GYN group. It is true that is better to have a relationship with a doctor before you’re on medicare. My H has to see established patients, but he has leeway if it’s a new patient and his schedule is tightly booked months in advance. He has sometimes said he’s not taking new medicare patients, and his office does not take medicaid. It mostly has to do with reimbursement. The best part of his job is that he, too, is now delivering babies of the babies he first delivered.
yes, same experience. I’m seeing someone new about every other year now. I hate it.
I NEVER call my docs unless it is truly an emergency. They have given me their numbers and begged me to call them at the first sign of an infection, so I do email them and then if things are worsening, sometimes I will call. In all the years, I think I’ve called the pediatrician maybe once after hours and the internist maybe once and emailed my pulmonologist many, many times. I’ve never called his cell phone, tho he has given it to me and begged me to call him if ever I need him.
I think it’s very irresponsible to call the doc when I create the emergency (fortunately I’ve never had that situation). I will call if through no fault of my own I have an infection that is worsening rapidly, as that’s what my docs and I all want to have immediate medical attention.
Wow, no turnover here. We have had the same doc since he got out of med school in the late 70’s, I think it was. It’s great. He knows three generations of our family.
This is where we diverge. My H thinks it’s the greatest thing that he and his dad treated three generations of the same family, that he treats so-and-so’s sisters and cousins and Aunt Ethel and so forth. I couldn’t care less! Why would it make any difference to me if a doctor also treated my sister? If anything, let’s keep things all separate and private!
DH has not had this problem; I have had it, and then some. When we moved to Portland (2008), I found DH a doctor and I found myself a doctor. Nice practice, near our house, covered by our insurance plan. DH still has the same doctor. After I had two different doctors in three years, I asked who was accepting new patients–none of the doctors in the plan. They told me I couldn’t stay with the practice unless I accepted the next doctor they hired (and they didn’t know how long it would take to find a new doctor). I went looking for a better option.
I found another practice, another half-mile from our house (so now I’m at a total of 2 miles from our house, so not a big deal). This one is a teaching practice. I get assigned a first year resident–and a teaching team. The teaching team has been unchanged, and I’m on my second resident. She’ll be there for another two years. I find that I enjoy the teaching-learning aspects of going with this practice, and I love the approach. The residents are expected to do thorough histories, take time with patients, followup–in short, they are expected to be GOOD doctors, and someone is checking on them. It’s a pleasure to be the patient–and it’s a pleasure to know that they are expected to be current on research into evidence-based medicine and standards of care.
As I’ve mentioned before, I had a rare adult bone cancer (chondrosarcoma); my current resident admitted to me initially that she had never heard of it–but since then, I notice that she’s up-to-date on the latest research, what little there is.
When this resident moves on, I’ll be assigned another first-year resident.
A minor advantage would be being able to connect family history of medical conditions better when assessing risk factors for other members of the family.
I don’t consider that a meaningful advantage in the least. We are each capable of reciting our own health history, and it would be inappropriate for a doctor to reference either of our health situations to the other.
In my case, my sister and I actually only share one bio parent so our health histories aren’t the same. And it’s just not a doctor’s business anyway how we are related.
My internist treats me and my folks and several of my sibs. He has attended our weddings and is like a relative at this point. He ignores hippa and is willing to talk with me about my parents as needed, invluding ordering prescriptions and getting mom a handicap placard authorization, which has been a great help in assisting in their care. His partner has known H and me for about 30 years and is willing to talk to each of us about the other’s care, which is very helpful. The docs do understand our family history, as they treated my paternal grandparents and many of our extended family.
My sis is a doctor’s wife and has some challenges finding docs she wants to see professionally that they don’t socialize with. HI is pretty small in the medical community.
My mom and I have the same PCP. Mr R soon will too. My mom switched over because I raved about her.
I don’t think it’s even legal to connect the histories of family members (someone can correct me). If I didn’t tell my doctor about my mom’s medical conditions, I don’t think my doctor can bring them up or say something like “Well, autoimmune diseases run in your family so let’s try x.”
Well, you have to assume common sense. If your doctor sees you and also sees your mom, he isn’t required to pretend he doesn’t know both of you and your histories, and he won’t simply not use that knowledge to try to help you.
Mine has seen three generations of my family. Of course he knows what is more likely and less likely. He doesn’t pretend otherwise either, but he wouldn’t share personal information one didn’t want the other to know, not that we have any of those kind of secrets.
Not much turn over in my area. I saw my same GP until I was twelve years old then he retired and I’ve seen the same Doctor ever since. I’ve had the same neurologist since I was eight, but he’s retiring this year so I’ll have seen him for about ten years. I’ve also seen my eye doctor since I was three. I do understand the feeling of having to constantly meet new doctors though - I’ve seen at least ten different specialists in as many months!!
“Mine has seen three generations of my family. Of course he knows what is more likely and less likely. He doesn’t pretend otherwise either, but he wouldn’t share personal information one didn’t want the other to know, not that we have any of those kind of secrets.”
People can be adopted, or have step parents, or Bob isn’t really Susie’s daddy but everyone is sworn to secrecy. This is all entirely inappropriate and unprofessional IMO.
Apparently you misunderstood my statement, which is not uncommon around here. No one is talking about parentage or bloodline secrets. How common is that kind of secrecy anyway? Not in my world.
When a doctor sees many members of a family, such as Grandparents, Parents, and Adult kids, and their children too, for example, he knows that what Grandma had is more likely to be a possibility for mom as she ages. He doesn’t have to talk specifically about Grandma about it, but there is nothing out of line with saying something like, “Well, every person in your family history has had X, so you should be taking steps to prevent against X now, even with no evidence you have X.”
Pizza, of course you are able to recite your own history…until you aren’t. And then somebody had better know something and also be in possession of a Health Care Power of Attorney for the affected member in order to get anything done.
I don’t think you understand HIPAA very well. My H cannot even acknowledge that other people have appointments with him, much less discuss their health situations with others.
“Apparently you misunderstood my statement, which is not uncommon around here. No one is talking about parentage or bloodline secrets. How common is that kind of secrecy anyway? Not in my world.”
You would be surprised how many of my H’s patients - a “nice” suburban middle class population - have situations in which the husband is not the father of the baby (and of course H is sworn to secrecy). Very surprised. Of course, this is nothing new.