Reply to S/o What the f do you all want from doctors?

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[quote=Anonymous]Medical care is not going to be better, and nor is PP going to be satisfied, just with 1-3 more minutes. That's barely time for her to get the full question out.

That doesn't mean any of this is okay, frustrated PP. It's not. We all need more time. The problem is that we need a lot more time than we have, and we can't lay claim that a couple more minutes will do it and then hold forth that a doctor could squeeze in 3 more minutes per patient and fix it.

I work salaried in a federal position, which is the only way I could keep working and feel like I still give good care. I took 2 phone calls during my admin hours yesterday in which both told the front desk they hardly needed any time -- "just two minutes" and "just a quick second, I won't be but a minute." I log the actual time by a timer, because that's the way the job works.

One mom wanted lab results, because she was sure her child was jaundiced. (I am not in DC area -- this is not identifying.) Labs were normal, and getting her verified by two identifiers and relaying the results took about 2 minutes total. However, then she wanted to know *why* his eyes were yellow (they were not -- I checked the last physical exam in the chart, and I know that doc), and what she should do next, and she wanted to make sure I knew the backstory, so -- 20 minutes.

I don't begrudge those twenty minutes at all. I was able to answer all of her questions and help her with a plan. But that wasn't two minutes, although I am absolutely certain she'd never recall it as 20 minutes. It was a brief call to her.

The other call took 31 minutes, but there is no point going into the details. Also not just a minute, though.

I don't begrudge this! I stayed behind on my paperwork for other visits, but it was good care. It's just pervasive. I used to run my own practice and track the time, though, to try to stay on time for my patients. Even when we would squeeze someone in "just to check his ears," and we would be very clear they only had me in the room for 5 minutes, just to check (no "by the way," no "I've been wanting to ask you," no follow-up questions), it never was 5 minutes. Never.

The literally only time in some 40 years of doing this that I've ever had someone be accurate about estimating time (in advance, or judging it after) was if it was another doctor or nurse. Literally no other time.

That just seems to be how we work as humans in the moment. But if we don't understand what we are dealing with, we cannot fix it. [/quote]

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