You wait for over an hour to see your doctor, only to be rushed out of his office in a few minutes. Why is this? House Call Doctor explains the 5 reasons behind the flawed primary care system in the U.S.
You are imprisoned in a cold, mundane room, bored out of your mind, listening to the ticking of the clock, feeling like every minute is a minute wasted. I know how you feel, because I’ve been there. I once waited for 4 hours to see my perinatologist (yep, 4 hours!) when I was pregnant with my twins. It's frustrating.
Yet, as we saw in my previous episode Why Is My Doctor Always Late?, I’m often guilty of being late for my patients. If you haven't had a chance to check out last week's episode, I urge you to do so right away. In it I describe a typical day in the life of a primary care physician and highlight some of the underlying problems of the profession.
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The episode drew a huge response and I thank those of you who posted your insightful thoughts about this problematic situation.
One of the most frequently asked questions was “Why can’t the doctors’ appointment slots just be longer?” That way the time pressure would be alleviated and no one would be late and in a hurry.
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
