DO YOU HAVE A GOOD FAMILY DOCTOR ?

[newstart2380]

Recently I was very sick and had been seeing a doctor who is a nice person but misdiagnosed my illness after seeing that doctor for 3 months. I ended up in the emergency room at the hospital and then was admitted for a time.

I was lucky enough to see a doctor on duty in the ER and he shook his head and could not believe i was still walking around at all.

The doctor I had been seeing had no idea and in my opinion should not be practising at all until better qualified, scary to think we are allowing doctors into this country that are not qualified enough because of the so called shortage.

[punch*drunk]

I wondered if they are not as familiar with our illnesses. Is diabetes as common in India as it is here? Most doctors would send a diabetic with a deep, dirty finger cut to the hosiptal. Dad didnt even get a tetanus shot until we made him ask for one a couple of days later. With the injury that it was, most doctors would ask if your tetanus was up to date before anything else.

[soul_art]

I totally agree with you lyndal.  When I couldn't get in to see the doctor I'd been seeing for 3 years (this was just after getting home from hospital after having disc fusion and REALLY needing to see her) I saw another doctor at the same clinic.

I couldn't believe how caring the new doctor was.  I think I was so used to being treated and spoken to rudely and with absolutely no empathy that it was a real shock and made me see my old doctor for what she is.......I'm still seeing the new doctor.

Funny thing is, the old doctor specialized in womens health apparently........but over the time I saw her she never once asked when my last mamogram etc was....pretty slack hey ! Oh and she charged way more than the new doctor !

[cherry*135]

Years ago I took my toddler to the Dr with what appeared to me to be ear infection symptoms. The Dr  seen was just new into the practice from Fiji. He thought she had wax in her ear and proceeded to dig it out with a long crochet hook looking instrument. He had to rely on the nurse a lot as to where the instruments were and which one to use. From memory I think Dr said daughter may need to come back and have it 'flushed' out.

Fast forward to next day she was still a cranky, sick little thing and  we went back to the medical centre. Saw a different Dr and she did have a ear infection. Saw the nurse  there from the day before and she apologised for the other Dr's treatment.

Paid for BOTH consultations even though the first one was worth $0.

On the other hand  a family member went to local medical centre (all middle aged Aust Drs there at that time) where I live now with a badly swollen knee. The Dr prescribed him with panadeine forte, knee kept swelling next day, so went to cheap Bulk billing centre in the weekend (most Doc's from overseas there) . The  Dr seen there couldn't believe a Dr had prescribed panadeine forte for swelling (should have been an anti-inflamatory).

Dr's can make errors no matter where they are born/trained.  As the nearest regional Uni has a post-grad medicine faculty now, we get a lot of those people working temporarily in the medical centres around here now. 

[purple_haize]

I have never had any problems with Indian doctors, had 3 over the yrs, only changed when they left the clinics I attended. The one I see now is very thourough, she was trained in the U.K.

Earlier this yr. when my then dr. left, someone suggested I see an Australian dr. at another clinic........she was useless, I had asthma very bad, she put me on a double dose of steroids for nearly a month, then I got an ulcer on my tongue that wouldnt heal, she wasnt interested in that, she knew I had trouble swallowing because ulcer was on side of my tongue, but gave me nothing, I think I tried everything for ulcers the chemist had, in desperation I went to a clinic that is open on w/end, she took one look at the ulcer and said I needed to go see about ASAP & that she would contact my dr.

My dr. wasnt too happy that I went to see someone else, so gave her the flick and went to dr. I am now seeing, she took me off the steroids & I had to go see an oral surgeon for the ulcer and it turns out I am allergic to the steroids, the ulcer finally healed after I had a tooth out that my tongue was rubbing on, the dentist to is Indian and one of the best I have been too.

I have seen Asian doctors and have found them good, but find the Indian ones the best.

[freddie*rooster]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

My mother worked for nearly 40 years in a large, very busy medical clinic and it was a well known and discussed fact that Indian doctors who had trained in India were rather "hard" on patients...they had very little sympathy or empathy and treated patients like a production line...in and out as quickly as possible and no explanation of their condition.

There was a theory that life was not valued in India and doctors just had to treat as many as possible in the shortest possible time.  That is certainly how it appeared when the doctors came to Australia....they just were not as thorough as Australian trained doctors.

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From experience I would agree with you Lyndal.

[love*today]

Yep but it took 4 yrs of doctor hopping to find her 😕
She's Asian or Chinese, Japanese IDK? Don't care, I can understand her that's the main thing and she is very good at her job.

Tried to get my OH in to see her this arvo but couldn't so made an appointment with their many slack Indian docs....after waiting 40 minutes we approach the desk to find out that oh was his last appointment there today and he had already bloody left!!! All good though as he can now see the fam doc and get treated right.
I only see the other docs when I need a certificate or a script lol

[***super_nova***]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

My mother worked for nearly 40 years in a large, very busy medical clinic and it was a well known and discussed fact that Indian doctors who had trained in India were rather "hard" on patients...they had very little sympathy or empathy and treated patients like a production line...in and out as quickly as possible and no explanation of their condition.

There was a theory that life was not valued in India and doctors just had to treat as many as possible in the shortest possible time.  That is certainly how it appeared when the doctors came to Australia....they just were not as thorough as Australian trained doctors.

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Overseas doctors arrive with nothing, some just want to make money to get ahead & get established, buy a  house, fees for their kids' private education and still support whole extended family in India.  They are here to make lot of money.

The doctors in our large 24/7 clinic are mainly from middle east & Russia, some are very good, some not.  The last doctor I saw there was Russian and he was really lovely with excellent English, the one before was a young woman from Iran, and I would have been happy to have either of them as my permanent doctor.  Both listened and were caring.

[newstart2380]

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@**freethinker_bob** wrote:

what's the Diagnosis? What did the original doctor think it was?

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The original diagnosis about 2 1/2 months ago was an allergy and I was given a ventilin spray and spacer, antibiotics.

Kept getting worse and kept going back saying i was not improving but felt worse, i suggested I see a spacialist but was told "they don't like us sending you unless it is serious" (we know our bodies and if there is something wrong, don't we ?)

Long story short - ambulance to the ER a day after again seeing the original Dr because I could not breath very well and a chinese Dr on duty (thank goodness) took one look at me, admitted me and I was put on a massive dose of steroids, cortisone and antibiotics for some days.

I have had 5 chest Xrays, 6 blood tests and all but 2 of these were ordered by the original Dr so why could she not see there was  serious problem ?

Under trained Dr's coming mostly (not all) from overseas and sent to country areas without the necessary knowledge or skills to treat people who may have something more serious than a cold or pimple.

Solution - better training and supervision, not just here to take the dollars and not care enough for the patients.

Hopefully on the road to recovery but instead of a couple of weeks it will be months.

[goo**spew]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

My mother worked for nearly 40 years in a large, very busy medical clinic and it was a well known and discussed fact that Indian doctors who had trained in India were rather "hard" on patients...they had very little sympathy or empathy and treated patients like a production line...in and out as quickly as possible and no explanation of their condition.

There was a theory that life was not valued in India and doctors just had to treat as many as possible in the shortest possible time.  That is certainly how it appeared when the doctors came to Australia....they just were not as thorough as Australian trained doctors.

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What rubbish. Perhaps in 1960, Australians in all lines of work had time for people but today I find they hurry along everyone. They don't care, you're just a number. At least the Asian doctors ask you about prior medical history and show an interest. They are also smarter because they have to be if they want to live in this country. Australians don't have that motivation. 

[love*today]

Ahhhhh another Aussie basher, you,d get along with martini.