This is the post:
As one who has practiced in both an academic setting and as a sub specialist in a rural community, I can offer the opinion that the plight of primary care physicians in the medical social/political hierarchy begins with their training. They simply are ill-trained. One to three month rotations in many specialties do not make them specialists in anything. They dont have the medical judgement or the medical knowledge to care adequately for the sick. They survive only because of the fact that most people who go to doctors are either not sick, or have illnesses from which they will recover whether they see a doctor or not. The problem is further exacerbated with their colleagues by their own insecurities. They tend to hold on to every patient that comes through the door during office hours, but all of a sudden become totally stupid and refer everything out after hours and on weekends. The fact is that the*family physician* is a warm cuddly term that in fact was an ill-conceived concept designed to fill gaps in rural medical care. The training is attenuated and the result is a physician who is simply not prepared to make sound scientific judgments in the real world. I do not know any sub specialist who would himself put his care in the hands of a Family Physician. The medical schools have to do a lot better if this situation is going to change.
Posted by: andy bourdain | May 16, 2008 9:09:01 AM
