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I recently had a bad experience with a resident at a teaching hospital. This is my first time seeing a resident at a teaching hospital, and for some reason, I thought it would be better than seeing an established doctor. I thought they would listen to me more and that I would have the advantage.
She did everything by the book, had to leave the room several times to ask her supervisor questions, she was cold and uncaring, and didn't listen to me. I wasn't a person to her, but a case. My opinion and experiences didn't matter, it's what the book/statistics dictate. I'm now looking for a new health provider who will listen to me and give me some credit for knowing myself and my body.
What are your experiences with residents/teaching hospitals compared to established medical doctors?
I only use residents in teaching hospitals when I have no other choice, such as in jaunts to the Emergency Room (where I go for occasional bouts of cellulitis, since the only thing that relieves it is an i.v. treatment overnight; or for my recent elbow mishap). Nothing against the young doctors, but I want someone who has at least 10 years post-med school experience, preferably 20. I get all my medical care, including my primary care physician and oncologist, out of one major teaching hospital and its affiliates, but my two main doctors are very experienced.
The gynecologist I see is a resident at a teaching hospital. She's a very good listener and I'm comfortable with her. She does have to ask her supervisor questions sometimes, which is fine with me. I was there last month for a procedure, and her supervisor came in to watch the procedure, which was also fine with me. When I was in the hospital, I saw another resident a couple of times and I was not pleased with him. (He kept insisting that I should have a copper IUD, even though my tubes are tied and the copper IUD would have been no use to me, but when I asked him why he thought I should have one, all he could say was that it was recommended.) Anyhow, one bad experience with a resident doesn't mean you should avoid them all.
I've had several surgeries at a teaching hospital and the students are always accompanied by a fully qualified surgeon.
I recently had cataract surgery and the resident surgeon had a student assisting him,at one point he asked me if i minded if the student took over the operation. Sure i said, the kids gotta learn somewhere.
Every time I have been in a teaching hospital (most of my adult life) I have had interns & residents along for the ride, but there was always a fully qualified Dr. supervising.
I have a very long, challenging & frustrating medical hx and I am very useful for the newer generations of Doctors. These new Doctors have to learn somehow and I have no issues as long as they are properly supervised.
My generosity ends after ONE attempt at a spinal tap or NG tube - if they fail I demand another Doctor; I don't play with those procedures!
I only use residents in teaching hospitals when I have no other choice, such as in jaunts to the Emergency Room (where I go for occasional bouts of cellulitis, since the only thing that relieves it is an i.v. treatment overnight; or for my recent elbow mishap). Nothing against the young doctors, but I want someone who has at least 10 years post-med school experience, preferably 20. I get all my medical care, including my primary care physician and oncologist, out of one major teaching hospital and its affiliates, but my two main doctors are very experienced.
The ideal, in my opinion, is finding a doctor that has about 5-10 years of post residency training. They are often much more up to date on the newest treatment techniques and research (more likely to read online journals and go to conferences) and they are better with technology. Occasionally, docs that are very "mature" are not willing to deviate from the way they have done things and are too reliant on their past experiences (which are not necessarily correct) to change. If they are a surgeon, or in a procedural specialty, advancing age can sometimes have an adverse effect.
Most any physician who has been in practice for themselves even 5 years has pretty much seen it all. At some point, having X years of experience is not going to mean anything more or better. OTOH, many patients want a physician who is in their peer group, which means picking someone in a certain age range, gender etc and that is perfectly fine as well.
Haven't had any problems with teaching hospitals. Don't mind letting the students practice on me or observe. Once had a big group of student doctors come in one after the other to ask me questions because I was an odd case. Made me feel quite important!
All of my experiences at teaching hospitals have not been good. And in most cases it's the teaching doctor who has been the problem, not the students. I have been made to feel as you did OP - like I'm a case number, not a person. They do not listen to me and my experiences and what I've learned about the conditions I've had. I choose to use non-teaching hospitals/doctors whenever possible.
I've had mixed experiences at teaching hospitals, specifically at the University of Michigan.
In the summer of 1997 I found out that I would have to have major surgery that was unexpected, unwanted, and very very scary. I had to be on meds for several months to shrink the tumor and my doctor (who was I think in his early 60s) was amazing. He was INCREDIBLY warm and kind to me (it was quite a contrast to see him interacting with his students -- he was quite blunt and not always nice). I saw him several times before and after the surgery and he was wonderful every time (despite the surgery not going as had been planned). I NEVER felt like I was "just a case" to him; he took an enormous amount of time with me and knew how devastated I was at what was happening.
On the other hand, shortly after that surgery I wanted to see a therapist, also through U. of M. I was originally assigned to a trainee with the full-fledged therapist sitting in. I said "This won't work, I will just leave," but I was very very upset. The therapist had the trainee leave and SHE was my therapist for the next several years. Except for that initial meeting, she was really great. (I understand that trainees have to get training, which means they have to meet with patients, but my problem was very very personal and excruciatingly painful to talk about, and I just could not handle a young trainee and another person sitting there.)
I work at a teaching hospital where I have been a patient several times and I have no complaints. My only bad experience was at another teaching hospital where I had my daughter. The students weren't exactly nice but I was too tired to care.
Find the patient advocate if you have any concerns. :-)
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Sure i said, the kids gotta learn somewhere.
