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They're like mechanics. They all dont know everything. There are good ones and bad ones that dont seem to care. Maybe some were not good students in school, but they got by. You'd be surprised how many refer to the books they have in their office.
hahah - most professionals do. And I hope they also do online research to see the latest!
Actually no, the doc is supposed to give a diagnosis of possible causes. That is what is expected of me when I fix stuff for my company. "I don't know" is not a valid answer and they will fire me if I say that, they PAY me to know these things. Ignorance is not an option except if you are a doctor.
The whole "it's complex" stuff is total BS. In my last job I worked support sometimes on a real time trading system powering Wall St. (i'm a Senior Software Engineer), when people are asleep at night these systems work all through the night computing various complex things and trust me they are incredibly complex with 1000s of different modules and communicating with other systems worldwide. When something would break I would be woken up at say 2 am and would have 1 hour to diagnose give an explanation as to what could be a cause and also give a suggested solution. It's sometimes VERY difficult to figure out what is wrong - sometimes like finding a needle in a haystack, especially when you have just woken up from your sleep. But with experience you come to find clues, narrow down where to look, speculate based on prior episodes etc. That is what companies pay for - EXPERIENCE. The doc should be nothing short of a whiz at these things otherwise I would I pay $200 for 15 minutes when I could just refer to WebMD for free? This is a joke. People are paid FAR LESS to know FAR MORE in other fields.
As I said earlier, if you go on healthgrades.com to look for doctors, 90% of the entire list is full of complaints from people and majority of the doctors are rated 1 or 2 stars out of 5, there seems to be a systemic problem otherwise so many people can't be complaining.
End of my rant.
Well, how hard can it be if it only takes you an hour? You expect a doctor to figure it all out in 10 minutes. Also, why is your solution only "suggested"? If you are 100% right there's no question about it, right?
How do you deal with ensuring that the doctor does not waste your money or time? For example: say you go to the doctor because you have ringing in your ears. The doctor looks into your ears, checks your BP then tells you to wait and see if it goes away and if it does not then to come back. You ask him what is wrong and he say he does not know. Then bills you $250 for the visit.
Now, the doc has virtually NOT attempted to diagnose your issue, give you possible explanation based on his observations etc. You are virtually no more informed of your condition than when you first went in.
I feel this is the only profession where the doc can shrug his shoulders and still charge the patient. I work in tech and I can tell you if there was a problem with the systems and I am called to diagnose and fix it, either I give a solid explanation of the problem or I fix it otherwise I will be in the unemployment line tomorrow if I simply shrug my shoulders and expect a company to pay me for it.
Well, a human body is not a machine, number one. He did look into your ears and his expert opinion is basically that whatever is going on there is not serious, you are otherwise healthy, and if you wait and see it might go away. He is charging you for that and the other costs of seeing you as a patient - his rent, payroll.
How do you deal with ensuring that the doctor does not waste your money or time? For example: say you go to the doctor because you have ringing in your ears. The doctor looks into your ears, checks your BP then tells you to wait and see if it goes away and if it does not then to come back. You ask him what is wrong and he say he does not know. Then bills you $250 for the visit.
Now, the doc has virtually NOT attempted to diagnose your issue, give you possible explanation based on his observations etc. You are virtually no more informed of your condition than when you first went in.
I feel this is the only profession where the doc can shrug his shoulders and still charge the patient. I work in tech and I can tell you if there was a problem with the systems and I am called to diagnose and fix it, either I give a solid explanation of the problem or I fix it otherwise I will be in the unemployment line tomorrow if I simply shrug my shoulders and expect a company to pay me for it.
In the case of ringing in the ears, to diagnose your issue, the doctor should: 1) check your blood pressure, 2) look in your ears, and 3) tell you to wait and see if it goes away, then refer you to a specialist if it doesn't, because that's all the doctor can do.
And that's what your doctor did. They aren't magicians. Pay up and stop complaining.
Actually no, the doc is supposed to give a diagnosis of possible causes. That is what is expected of me when I fix stuff for my company. "I don't know" is not a valid answer and they will fire me if I say that, they PAY me to know these things. Ignorance is not an option except if you are a doctor.
The whole "it's complex" stuff is total BS. In my last job I worked support sometimes on a real time trading system powering Wall St. (i'm a Senior Software Engineer), when people are asleep at night these systems work all through the night computing various complex things and trust me they are incredibly complex with 1000s of different modules and communicating with other systems worldwide. When something would break I would be woken up at say 2 am and would have 1 hour to diagnose give an explanation as to what could be a cause and also give a suggested solution. It's sometimes VERY difficult to figure out what is wrong - sometimes like finding a needle in a haystack, especially when you have just woken up from your sleep. But with experience you come to find clues, narrow down where to look, speculate based on prior episodes etc. That is what companies pay for - EXPERIENCE. The doc should be nothing short of a whiz at these things otherwise I would I pay $200 for 15 minutes when I could just refer to WebMD for free? This is a joke. People are paid FAR LESS to know FAR MORE in other fields.
As I said earlier, if you go on healthgrades.com to look for doctors, 90% of the entire list is full of complaints from people and majority of the doctors are rated 1 or 2 stars out of 5, there seems to be a systemic problem of general physicians either incompetent or running their office like a conveyer belt, charging exorbitant amounts but barely giving any service, otherwise so many people can't be complaining.
End of my rant.
So, in short, no explanations/opinions will satisfy you unless the poster will rant along with you.
Actually no, the doc is supposed to give a diagnosis of possible causes. That is what is expected of me when I fix stuff for my company. "I don't know" is not a valid answer and they will fire me if I say that, they PAY me to know these things. Ignorance is not an option except if you are a doctor.
The whole "it's complex" stuff is total BS. In my last job I worked support sometimes on a real time trading system powering Wall St. (i'm a Senior Software Engineer), when people are asleep at night these systems work all through the night computing various complex things and trust me they are incredibly complex with 1000s of different modules and communicating with other systems worldwide. When something would break I would be woken up at say 2 am and would have 1 hour to diagnose give an explanation as to what could be a cause and also give a suggested solution. It's sometimes VERY difficult to figure out what is wrong - sometimes like finding a needle in a haystack, especially when you have just woken up from your sleep. But with experience you come to find clues, narrow down where to look, speculate based on prior episodes etc. That is what companies pay for - EXPERIENCE. The doc should be nothing short of a whiz at these things otherwise I would I pay $200 for 15 minutes when I could just refer to WebMD for free? This is a joke. People are paid FAR LESS to know FAR MORE in other fields.
As I said earlier, if you go on healthgrades.com to look for doctors, 90% of the entire list is full of complaints from people and majority of the doctors are rated 1 or 2 stars out of 5, there seems to be a systemic problem of general physicians either incompetent or running their office like a conveyer belt, charging exorbitant amounts but barely giving any service, otherwise so many people can't be complaining.
End of my rant.
When you make an appointment with a doctor you will have to pay for that appointment regardless of what the doctor says. You are paying for their time. Your payment goes to paying the staff, the rent on the building, insurance, equipment, and so on. Sometimes there is no diagnosis to give if the problem you are experiencing does not present itself in a tangible way. If you were unhappy with the diagnosis ask for a referral to a specialist. That will cost you even more and the wait will be longer to get in. You will also have to go through some tests, which in turn will cost more money. Hopefully your insurance is good.
It sucks, but that is the reality. As another poster said, doctors are not magicians. They do what they can with what is presented to them. Your doctor gave you a, 'wait and see' instruction, which is fair. If it gets worse you can go to a specialist, if it goes away then you do not have to deal with the expense of seeing a specialist. If all this is making your head hurt then be one of the voices that demands single payer healthcare. Until then this is the system we have.
Actually no, the doc is supposed to give a diagnosis of possible causes. That is what is expected of me when I fix stuff for my company. "I don't know" is not a valid answer and they will fire me if I say that, they PAY me to know these things. Ignorance is not an option except if you are a doctor.
I actually understand that the doctor failed to meet the needs of the patient & that yes; "failure to meet our needs" is incompatible with being considered employable, in every sector.
The failure, however, was not one of diagnostics; it was a failure of communication. Without a verbatim report of the word for word conversation between doctor & patient, we don't know if the doctor tried to educate the patient on possible causes, diagnostics, treatments & prognosis that required further assessment or not ... but obviously; the patient left the appointment feeling just as frustrated if not more, than when they arrived & they lacked a clear understanding of their options.
Medicine, as a science is not comparable to computer, technological or mechanical engineering science. In fact; there is almost no comparison to be made at all. Man created the machine with his own two hands incorporating known theories of relativity, physics, chemistry, mathematics, systems, circuitry, etc ...
We cannot build another human with our own two hands. There is so much yet to be learned about the human body; that's why I said: "I prefer a doctor who can say; "I don't know".
Because a doctor that thinks s/he knows everything? Obviously thinks a bit too highly of themselves.
I want my doctor to be thinking of me first, during my allotted & probably too brief time. I want them to hear what I am saying & I want them to believe what I am saying & "know-it-all's"; in all areas of life in general; do not do this.
As an RN working in acute care for years; I noticed that a doctors ability to communicate can supersede their clinical brilliance in terms of patient satisfaction. Doctors are required to round at least once every 24 hours on their hospitalized patients. Every morning between 0630-0900, doctors flock to the patient rooms & nurses station, see each patient & then note the charts accordingly.
The patients will wait eagerly all day & night, families are called in, caregivers lie in wait, lists of questions to ask the doctor are written down; all for The Doctor to Arrive. This is a daily routine for literally every patient on every floor in every hospital. About 15 minutes after the doctors leave the nurses station; the call light monitor at the nurses' station lights up like a Christmas tree; because all the patients want to ask their nurse:
"What did s/he say? What does that even mean? Now, what happens?"
So, this is a thing. The OP's doctor may have met the OP's needs clinically speaking (meaning they did do something) but may have failed to communicate & to the OP & a lot of people; that is as bad as doing nothing.
My post was meant to clarify that by "looking in the ears & checking the blood pressure", the extent of diagnostics that can be achieved without a referral probably had been "done".
And think about that charge of $250 or whatever it is that is actually for a ten minute, tops, "visit." Medicare patients get a whopping seven minutes.
$250 x 6 = $1500 per hour. To all the people who explained the overhead, do you think this is a "fair" amount to charge for "nothing" (or even "something" if you happen to get an answer in that amount of time)?
And think about that charge of $250 or whatever it is that is actually for a ten minute, tops, "visit." Medicare patients get a whopping seven minutes.
$250 x 6 = $1500 per hour. To all the people who explained the overhead, do you think this is a "fair" amount to charge for "nothing" (or even "something" if you happen to get an answer in that amount of time)?
So in other words the doctor has to come up with a malady in order to get paid? That is a bad precedent. There are people who go to the doctor at the first sign of a sniffle and there are other people who wont go to a doctor unless one of their limbs is hanging by a thread.
I think 'wait and see' is not a glamorous conclusion when you are sure something is really wrong with you. But sometimes there really is nothing wrong and that is a GOOD THING. I would much rather get a wait and see than a shotgun approach to curing my mystery ailment as in drugs, specialists, and unneeded therapies.
90% of PCPs are useless. For acute issues go to the ER. For chronic issues do research online, diagnose yourself and see a specialist.
If you have chest pain (angina) find a Cardiologist in your area and get the appropriate tests if necessary.
If you have kidney area pain go to a nephrologist or a Chiropractor.
Allergies go to an Allergist.
COPD go to a Pulmonologist.
ETC ETC.
You have to be your own Primary Care doctor.
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