RoboDoc, Is This What Being an MD Means Now?

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
I'm sure a bunch of folks here have stories about the way a visit with the doctor used to be. I was born in 1962 and I can remember house calls. My pediatrician was the last of a breed. I think it was still common at that time for a doctor to have their own practice. Not only that, they knew your name without looking through your chart. They knew your basic medical history and medications without looking too.

I don't know how it works nowadays. I went to our primary care office yesterday to straighten out my medications. The nurse who took my blood pressure and blood work was chatty. She was even kind enough to take my blood pressure a second time to try to get a lower reading. Then came in RoboDoc pushing his computer. I think he was addressing the computer and not me.

What was the diagnosis last time I was here? What meds do I take? Then it got weird. I said I'm there to make sure my prescriptions are up to date. He sort of cut me off and started reading symptoms from the screen. Hello? HELLO? I'm sitting here in front of you dangnabbit. No I have no allergies or sensitivity to latex. I just want to be able to take my pills and stay out of your office.:mad:
 

Yeah, RoboDoc is coming. I'm surprised it's taking so long. In the late 1970s, I worked with the MD, who developed the "ophthalmatron". It was a computerized device, which prescribed eye glass RXs. Its descendants are in every eye clinic today. The idea is that a pt. with symptoms would go through a series of general computerized tests to determine which more specific tests were needed. At the end, a specific diagnosis and care plan would be generated. Surgery, of course would be done by computer. Come on, no human could possibly be as precise as a computer. Medical care would be cheap, fast, and precise. At least, that's the theory.
It's a matter of money. Computers don't want new cars, a retirement plan, etc. What we call "doctors" today would be phased out as way too expensive and inefficient It's happening now. Drs. are now in 'groups', because MDs can make it by being a sole practitioner. No, doctors don't make house call in their horse and buggies anymore, either.
 
You hit it right on the head there Fuzz. I remember my most recent eye appointment a few years back. I spent perhaps a good six minutes with the doctor. All the rest was technicians and machines. I've worn glasses since I was five so it's almost unbelievable how much optician services have changed.
 

I have asked for my money back. I have spoken up and told a couple of doctors that I am paying them for their service and I'm not happy with their treatment of me during my visit and would like my money returned for sitting through a bad office visit. YES..I have gone there. I have told them " What makes you any different than the mechanic or the painter? If they do a bad job people ask for their money back. If you don't know how to treat a customer AND I AM A PAYING CUSTOMER I want my money back."
 
I've got mixed emotions about how doctors conduct an office visit now. On one hand, the "personal" attention is nice, but I'm more interested in getting the Correct diagnosis...the First time. Given that medical errors are the 3rd leading cause of deaths, I am in favor of a doctor using the vast array of computer data available to "double check" the diagnosis. While it seems that a doctor is somewhat "detached" while playing with his/her Laptop, they are hopefully entering the symptoms correctly, and accessing all the possibilities for the illness....rather than making a personal decision, that could be wrong.

Over the past couple of days, I have spent a fair amount of time browsing web sites, like MayoClinic, WebMD, and Drugs.com. I had to be rushed to the hospital a couple of days ago...for the first time in my life...and I took all the paper work, and drug data, and verified, for myself, that what they told me Really matched what I was feeling...and that the drugs they prescribed wouldn't cause even more problems.

So yes, while the days of a doctor making house calls, and giving gobs of personal attention are probably over, I feel we have a better chance of getting well if the doctor does some careful verification of what the symptoms are saying.
 
I grew up with a family doctor that did everything but cut you open. He set bones, treated childhood diseases, made house calls, rounds at the local hospital, etc...

The doctor that I have today is great but not much more useful to me than the school nurse. No matter what my problem happens to be the first order of business is a referral to a specialist. I'm sure that this gives me better health care but I would much rather have a good old trusted family doctor that understands the whole package and treats me.
 
You know the punch line for yesterday's visit? My sleepy meds are 50mg's stronger than the original prescription and they didn't even phone in the one that runs out tomorrow. Now I have to get on the horn on a Saturday and try to get them to okay it GRRRRRRR...:mad::mad::mad:

Jeez I used to have a prescription for amphetamine that I never had a problem filling. I could bring Callie to the doctor's office and let him stand at the doctor's feet until the pharmacy has all the information they need...of course the doctor would wet himself but we'd have this sorted out.
 
They are getting weirder and weirder about sleep meds, Fur. Someone on high decided it's not good for older people to take sleep meds and they are making it more and more difficult to get them prescribed, even if it is a long-standing prescription. I've been wrangling with my doc for over a year about this issue.

As to the computer thing, I hate it too, but it's again what the powers that be have decided is best, and if the doc doesn't comply and enter stuff while you are there, he/she can get in a heap of trouble and possibly lose his job. My doc says the doctors, especially the older ones, don't like it any better than we do.
 
There must even be guidelines for where they are allowed to treat a patient. We were in the outside walkway of the doctor in question. It's a medical building next to a connecting immedicenter. We had just left a doctor appointment and my husband went into a seizure. The doctor we had just seen flew out the door with a bunch of helpful strangers.

I swear to G-d that doctor was ready to say " Take him to the emergency door on the other side of the building, I have things to do". He is your patient and you are a real live physician. You are watching one of your patients getting very ill in front of you and you don't feel the reflex need to do something???!!!!

Eventually we got the emergency staff to help. He stayed overnight and they treated the problem. Thank goodness for the strangers. One grabbed a wheelchair and between the two of them they got my husband into it. But that doctor was useless. Maybe emergency care isn't in his job description...only scheduled office visits...schmuck.
 
I remember calling up a doc for an appointment, and hearing "we have 3:00 or the 3:20 one." 20 minute appointments. I remember the first time I heard,"we have the 3:00 or the 3:10". 10 minutes!! If MDs try to see more pts. to make a living, the only thing left is to review lab tests and computer run tests-not even see you. A computer can do that. Again, computers ARE coming. There's nothing wrong with MDs. It's like when we went from big thick, small screen TVs to flat screen HD. MDs will be in research-not pt. care.
 
Oh great...the doctor monitoring your delivery on Skype while technicians and nurses do the hands on stuff...Like my bumper sticker " 1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual".
 
I had no idea of how farsighted Dr. Safire was, when he built that computerized eye glass RX machine. I remember that he left a section of the computer software blank, so that some day software would be created to have it " talk" to another computer. I thought what the hell did that mean. As I'm typing this, you have no idea how stupid I feel.
 
Oh Fuzz, I remember our first home computer. HyperSpeak was this weird little program and we thought it was cooler than sliced bread. You'd type a phrase phonetically and the computer would try to repeat it. We all were awkward figuring out real live computers.
 

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