What's it's like when a doctor visits another doctor?? I just feel like the terms they use would be different and the visit would just be more efficient than normal?
If I ever get a friggin afternoon off to go to the doctor again, I’ll let you know. Most of my “doctor visits” haven’t included actual doctor visits... Here are my experiences as a patient since I became a doctor:
decided I needed a PCP, asked my attending to be my PCP. Went for one visit (after hours and my friend/fellow rez took my vitals), gave my whole history, got shots for my mission trip, and never had another visit.
had allergies, asked fellow resident to call in Flonase
got a fever at work (noticed by attending when I was sweating), rapid strep swabbed in the hallway, sent home from work with Amoxicillin.
had yeast infection, asked fellow resident to call in diflucan
had scratchy eye, thought possibly foreign body and corneal abrasion, let intern fluorescein my eye at lunch to look for abrasions.
Wanted breast reduction, asked my PCP to refer me. She asked me some random questions in her office. No official visit or physical exam.
Pre-op visit before breast reduction: Got seen topless by random other patient.
had an infection in my finger, asked my PCP to just drain it for me real quick like in clinic. Endured the worst pain of my life (including surgery) when she stuck a 21G needle into my fingertip.
Generally speaking, it’s not ok to go to a doctor and announce your self- diagnosis to them. Even when you are a doctor. But we are able to speed some things along a bit. We are used to giving patient presentations, so we organize our own medical history-giving better than the average patient would. We know what’s relevant and what isn’t. We know our past medical histories better than most patients do.
But you’ve probably heard the saying, “a doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient.” It’s true. We are still often wrong about our own diagnoses. We are hypochondriacs too. We still need our own doctors who will examine us like they would any other patient and offer their opinions and advice.