Should we bother educating the public?

To educate or not to educate. That is the question. Physicians feel like the public doesn’t care. We quietly wish each other a happy doctor’s day while nurses loudly and proudly celebrate an entire nursing week. We don’t complain, we don’t petition, we don’t write to politicians, we don’t march on parliament. Our overpaid physician groups negotiate poor deals that we accept. Yesterday, I decided to reply to a non-physician group. A member, whom I’ll call Meeter, really wanted to go to a community meeting but had to renew prescriptions at a walk-in clinic and so missed the meeting and complained to the group about it. Me: Meeter, I wanted to comment on your medical frustration, and am posting to the list because health care affects all of us, including this group. Family doctors are underpaid and under-appreciated. Write to your MP and MPP to ask for more funding—and be very kind to your family doctor if you're lucky enough to have one. Even if you don't like them, think of how you can work together while you search for a new one. Read: Try a little tenderness Meeter (original post, paraphrased): When I came 15 minutes before opening, over 30 people had lined up before me. It took four hours to finally see a doctor Me: In those four hours, then, the doctor saw more than 30 people, some of whom could be quite complex. Good job. Meeter: In my [small West Coast] town, you have to see a doctor to renew a prescription. You can’t renew it over the phone. Me: Renewing prescriptions is a skill. Why are people taking medications? Is it the right dose? Are there interactions? Often provincial governments don't pay or don't pay well when it's over the phone, and patients can be extremely rude (for example, people going to the bathroom or ordering their drive-through order during their appointment). Meeter: You can’t make an appointment at our walk-in clinics, it’s first-come, first-served. Me: Because they're walk-in clinics. No appointments. Meeter: Arrrgh! Read: Don’t be a hero Me: Very frustrating. Talk to your politicians and vote accordingly. A family physician has two to four years of undergraduate education, three to four (usually 4) years of medical school, and two + years of residency post-graduate training. This is NOT equivalent to a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, although the BC government, especially, wants to pay the same while not giving physicians (the most educated and most in debt) any debt forgiveness, overtime, inflation pay, or pension. We are screwed. The Canadian population is growing more medically complex and requires more care, not less. I’m not trying to isolate you, just to let everyone know that you or someone you love will need urgent and ongoing health care sooner rather than later, and we need to take care of physicians, not shame them for not doing more. Physicians have had enough and are quitting family practice or, like me, never started. Take care of your physicians, or prepare for even more dystopian arrrgh for yourselves and progeny. End of reply. What happened? A new and contentious member wrote long descriptions about how he had to wait in various ERs that didn’t provide him food, complained about physicians, said he thought GPs had more education, “but I guess that’s specialists,” and proposed bringing in foreign doctors instead. His friend agreed that he was dissatisfied with his own medical care. Another member complained that a family doctor called 10 minutes early, and then when the patient couldn’t answer, the doctor rescheduled for a different day. A long-standing and respected group member responded, “I am deeply bothered by, ‘It’s difficult to feel sorry for physicians who cry poor,’ especially given this is in reply to a doctor and a fellow member who has worked throughout the last two years seeing things that, I'm certain, none of us even want to imagine, let alone experience.” So at least one person saw my point and has the last word. Do I respond and risk another troll tirade, or let it stand? Update: a member has reported the troll to the Board because of general troll behaviour, up to and including the anti-doctor post. I’ll take it as a win. Read: Don’t cry, it will cost you extra

Should we bother educating the public?

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Blog Author

Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes

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