Specialists vs. Generalists

[cakulmom]

Looking back, I now see that all the symptoms of my AN were there for 2 years and my GP just kind of ignored them or attributed them to less innocuous things--allergies, stress, idiopathic.  Not until I sought out an ENT did I get diagnosed.

Now with my hip problem, I look back and know this problem has been with me for at least 10 years.  I had complained to my old GP off and on during that time, but it wasn't until I changed doctors did the new one send me to the orthopedic surgeon.

The GP (same old one as above--no longer our doctor) my son saw first chalked his brain seizures (as they turned out to be) up to the stresses of medical school.  He wouldn't even recognize they were seizures.  I made the appt. with the neurologist which led to his brain cancer diagnosis.

Thankfully, we have a PPO, not HMO so can see specialists on our own, and the doctors I went to did not insist on a referring doctor.  I think GP's are useful for common ailments, but medicine is so specialized these days that we should be able to go to a specialist when we know something is very wrong with our bodies.  Doubt that health care reform will ever address that!  My 3rd yr. med. student son agrees with me.

Thoughts? 
 

[yardtick]

There are a lot of us on the forum who had similar experiences with our GP's.  I'm Canadian so it goes to show you that there is a common thread here.  My husband works in health care and from his prospective he feels GP's often miss many diseases because their knowledge is a broad understanding of general conditions.  Often times when a patient asks for a certain test or feels they may have a certain condition GP's get standoffish and do not like their authority questioned. 
 

Anne Marie

[HeadCase2]

  The best GPs know when to refer to a specialist.   

[Funnydream]

I went in to see my GP because half my face went numb I thought the hearing loss was from work tools. She took my blood pressure and said I have high BP and gave me a script for BP and told me to come back in a month. After a few days of reading online about BP and buying a home BP test kit. My BP was normal every day and online everything said BP meds take a full month to kick in. So I was back to my GP with in a week. And demanded full testing and got a EKG (normal) and blood work (cameback normal). And a scirpt for a MRI. Got the MRI the next day. And you can guess what that lead to.

They are just humans trying to do this best in life they can. Just like the rest of us. And yes humans are not the same. Some can do things better then others. Aka sports, art, jokes, problem solving.

All I found I can do to not spend $$$ looking for the best Doc. Is to go online and read reviews till you find what your looking for.

[leapyrtwins]

The best GPs know when to refer to a specialist.   

I totally agree with this.  My GP and my children's pediatricians all know when they are "out of their league" and never hesitate to refer us to a specialist when necessary. 

I also was lucky that my ENT knew when to refer me to a neurotologist, since he (the ENT) had no idea what to do with an Acoustic Neuroma.

Jan

[Brendalu]

As far as I am concerned my GP saved my life more than once.  She is always on top of things and refers when I need the referral............and makes sure I am happy with the referral.
I can be at the grocery store or Sam's Club, if she see me she seeks me out and makes sure I am taking my meds and reminds me it is time for this or that...glad I live in a small town with a caring and wonderful doctor!
Brenda

[cakulmom]

Interesting discussion.  I've always thought a good physician is the one who knows what he doesn't know.  When my son was 11, his pediatrician sent him to a specialist when he was unable to diagnose a complicated, weirdly-presenting case of cellulitis.  That was a good doctor!

[Lizard]

I do like my GP, but he's way out of hsi league when it comes to my AN.  He had a nurse practitioner call me when the MRI results came back and she announced I have an AN, and basically had no idea what it was.  I was VERY confused...no action, just a referral to a neuro and then an ENT.  They really down played what I was going through.  I was initially sent for the MRI because I had some really bad headaches and one wouldn't go away after over 2 weeks, even after a taper of steriods.  They were good to have the MRI, but still didn't have the follow through.