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.
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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.
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Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American
