As always, your suggestions are terrific. But many of us are far from being able to even find any doctor who accepts Medicare and who is accepting new patients. Our health care system is so broken!
It is BEYOND broken indeed. So sad and so fixable.. but the incentive structures are backwards. Doctors are rewarded for referring, prescribing, and moving ppl along the conveyor belt. TIME and the PATIENT-DOCTOR relationship should be the commodity. Everyone deserves a medical home where they can be fully seen, heard and treated as a whole person, not just a bag or organs or a set of labs. I could go on ... 😫
You are so incredibly helpful, practical and effective in your suggestions here. I have had so many bad experiences in doctors offices because when I am nervous I tend to babble; when I babble I lose their attention. I feel for my doctors and their crammed schedules, having to type notes while trying to listen and trying to decipher what patients like me are trying to convey.
I now meditate before going in and admit I am nervous, which does help. But I will add your idea of Top 3 items with follow up if needed.
I do better with Telehealth because of this but it is important to have a face to face occasionally ( listen to my heart etc)
Such good insight about yourself, Trish.. and also good to SHARE that insight so that your doctor *gets* that you *get it*! Yes we have a lot to get done, but you also need that time to collect your thoughts. Meditating and organizing your thoughts in advance are all great tools!!
This is more helpful than I can say! Spot on for my ongoing quest to find a new primary care provider. Needing for that person to accept my health care benefits is hard enough so any guidance in steering the ship (hopefully not the Titanic...lol) will help keep some optimism going. Thank you so much! :)
Ha!! Speaking of avoiding icebergs (it's freezing here in NY!!) I have 2 doctors I'm looking into so far-one is an MD and the other is a DO. Can you give me any idea of what the difference is and if either is more likely to be emotionally intelligence focused than the other from a clinical training perspective? Hope it's ok to ask here....thanks!! :)
I see my doctor once a year and I just turned 87. But I don't consider seeing her to be taking care of my health. Where is the evidence that seeing a doctor improves your health? Getting a prescription does not improve health. It probably only manages symptoms. Why is it that most doctors completely ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence that the Standard American Diet is the leading cause of death and disability in the USA? I THINK IT is because they did not learn about this in med school. Nor did they learn that there is overwhelming evidence that a mostly whole food plant based diet with no restrictions on how much you eat can prevent and reverse the leading causes of death and disability. Dr. Michael Greger's new book How Not To Age has 13,000 references to RCTs, observational studies, and other evidence that support this claim. Fortunately I met a doctor 40 years ago who shared the evidence and showed me how to take charge of my health. I have converted several of my doctors since then but most go on eating their SAD diet and prescribing pills to their patients instead of presenting the truth that would set them free. Read Greger and examine the evidence. It may save your life.
Thank you for this. I was dropped from my GP’s patient roster because I hadn’t gone there in five years. Well, in the last five years every time I called them with a concern to get an appointment, I was told they couldn’t see me for a month or more (that doesn’t work for a bad poison ivy rash or a suspected case of shingles!), so they told me to go to Patient First.
To get back on their rolls, I need to make a “new patient” appointment — in three months. This is all since that practice got taken over by Luminus Health. So I’m actually in the market for a new doctor.
Meanwhile, I have some real concerns and am setting up an appointment with the cardiologist I saw over a decade ago, hoping they’ll see me without a referral! Our system is so messed up.
I could not agree more. I think it's important to establish yourself with a new (or prior) MD with a full checkup ... and hopefully it will go smoothly from there.. but you are right it is a BEAR trying to navigate this dreaded medical system!!
As always, your suggestions are terrific. But many of us are far from being able to even find any doctor who accepts Medicare and who is accepting new patients. Our health care system is so broken!
It is BEYOND broken indeed. So sad and so fixable.. but the incentive structures are backwards. Doctors are rewarded for referring, prescribing, and moving ppl along the conveyor belt. TIME and the PATIENT-DOCTOR relationship should be the commodity. Everyone deserves a medical home where they can be fully seen, heard and treated as a whole person, not just a bag or organs or a set of labs. I could go on ... 😫
You are so incredibly helpful, practical and effective in your suggestions here. I have had so many bad experiences in doctors offices because when I am nervous I tend to babble; when I babble I lose their attention. I feel for my doctors and their crammed schedules, having to type notes while trying to listen and trying to decipher what patients like me are trying to convey.
I now meditate before going in and admit I am nervous, which does help. But I will add your idea of Top 3 items with follow up if needed.
I do better with Telehealth because of this but it is important to have a face to face occasionally ( listen to my heart etc)
Anyway thank you for your sage advice.
Such good insight about yourself, Trish.. and also good to SHARE that insight so that your doctor *gets* that you *get it*! Yes we have a lot to get done, but you also need that time to collect your thoughts. Meditating and organizing your thoughts in advance are all great tools!!
This is more helpful than I can say! Spot on for my ongoing quest to find a new primary care provider. Needing for that person to accept my health care benefits is hard enough so any guidance in steering the ship (hopefully not the Titanic...lol) will help keep some optimism going. Thank you so much! :)
Haha hopefully you will steer clear of any icebergs 😆 .. which is a TALL ORDER when trying to navigate the US medical system. I wish you good luck!!
Ha!! Speaking of avoiding icebergs (it's freezing here in NY!!) I have 2 doctors I'm looking into so far-one is an MD and the other is a DO. Can you give me any idea of what the difference is and if either is more likely to be emotionally intelligence focused than the other from a clinical training perspective? Hope it's ok to ask here....thanks!! :)
Impossible to know.. depends entirely on their training, skill set, personality ..sorry I can't be more helpful!
Hi! That make sense. Thanks for taking the time to reply! :)
I see my doctor once a year and I just turned 87. But I don't consider seeing her to be taking care of my health. Where is the evidence that seeing a doctor improves your health? Getting a prescription does not improve health. It probably only manages symptoms. Why is it that most doctors completely ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence that the Standard American Diet is the leading cause of death and disability in the USA? I THINK IT is because they did not learn about this in med school. Nor did they learn that there is overwhelming evidence that a mostly whole food plant based diet with no restrictions on how much you eat can prevent and reverse the leading causes of death and disability. Dr. Michael Greger's new book How Not To Age has 13,000 references to RCTs, observational studies, and other evidence that support this claim. Fortunately I met a doctor 40 years ago who shared the evidence and showed me how to take charge of my health. I have converted several of my doctors since then but most go on eating their SAD diet and prescribing pills to their patients instead of presenting the truth that would set them free. Read Greger and examine the evidence. It may save your life.
Agree 100% that health is about more than pills and prescriptions :)
Thank you for this. I was dropped from my GP’s patient roster because I hadn’t gone there in five years. Well, in the last five years every time I called them with a concern to get an appointment, I was told they couldn’t see me for a month or more (that doesn’t work for a bad poison ivy rash or a suspected case of shingles!), so they told me to go to Patient First.
To get back on their rolls, I need to make a “new patient” appointment — in three months. This is all since that practice got taken over by Luminus Health. So I’m actually in the market for a new doctor.
Meanwhile, I have some real concerns and am setting up an appointment with the cardiologist I saw over a decade ago, hoping they’ll see me without a referral! Our system is so messed up.
I could not agree more. I think it's important to establish yourself with a new (or prior) MD with a full checkup ... and hopefully it will go smoothly from there.. but you are right it is a BEAR trying to navigate this dreaded medical system!!
Really great advice that can help anyone. Thank you!