please feel free to copy and paste and forward. I am a semi retired neurologist with good neuroopthalmology training and a secondary subspeciality. I have had the honor of being elected a fellow in my specialty society and subspecialty society and am board certified.
When selecting a physcian to be your primary care doctor, make sure that they are board certified and also belong to their specialty medical society. For family pracitice it’s the American Academy of Family Medicine… board certification is usually not a problem because virtually all medical staffs require board certification, and for those new physicians who have just entered practice, board eligibilty, which expires within three years… they have three years to pass the board exams. Current practice also requires every ten years, recertification… Despite the rigourous board exams, there are still good and bad docs…passing the boards weeds out those who are dangerous only… going by reputation online is not useful as doctors are rated by personality and not by qualifications… the ideal is to have a qualified doctors with whom you can communicate with freely and get your questions met…That is not a problem for me because I know what to ask and am persistent in getting my issues met… it’s far more difficult for a lay person who doesn’t know the fine details of their medical condition… nbeing able to communicate with your primary care physician is of utmost importance… If you aren’t satisfied, change physicians until you find one that you can get along with and who you know is qualified…
…In that regard, online symptom self diagnosis and online self (mis)educated people, can be a pain for physicians, as they have to spend time correcting inaccurate or false information… Much of what is online does not pertain to your case unless you have been given a specific diagnosis…social media is the worse source of bad information… stick to Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and academic medical center websites (Harvard medical school, Stanford, etc.) that give simplied information to patients that are still in general informatiive and accurate…I can go deeper into research papers on medical condtitions but only a trained physician is capable of understanding the molecular biology, genetics and other very difficult information presented. But even that is difficult and slow reading for me…
One final comment is that every physician is bogged down and have their hands tied by insurance and Medicare (CMS) rules… what they can and can’t do for you is restricted by Medicare rules and regulations that also apply to private insurance… It’s an undending source for frustration for all medical practioners. Electronic medical record demands take time away from direct face to face contact… the doctor is furiously entering check box information in the computer with his back turned to you but that doesn’t mean he or her is not listening and hearing you… the electronic medical record is also a medicare/CMS requirement and has intruded totally in doctor/patient relationships… My long career spans from the time we had paper records to the modern system…bureaucratic restrictions and roadblocks to good patient care have been steadily mounting…doctors and nurses do everything to comply with Medicare"CMS regulations, leaving little time to devote to patients… failure to compy with Medicare/CMS regs risk draconian punitive fines and other strong actions. Health care plans and managed care for Medicare patients that are farmed out to insurance companies, further restrict access, cut corners and try to save money by delaying ro denying care… The savings aren’t returned to Medicare and pocketed by insurance companies who make a lot of profit from it… Humana, United Health, Centene, Cigna, Aetna make godd profits and are publiclaly traded companies on the New York Stock Exhange… thier revenues are in the 100 BIllion dollar range…Thier consistent high profits make them investment porfloi core holdings… but it all comes at the expense of patient care and Medicare spending…
Eye health and musculosketel health are indispensible for those in our craft of jewerly making… Health in these areas have to be maintained. Growing older blunts our visual acuity and leads to serious problems… musculoskeletal probems prevent us from bench sitting. Some of it can be avoided by good ergonomics from the start, and the use of microsocpes for vision as we grow older.
I’m sorry for being so prolix, but this topic is important and for a general audience… it especially applies to older jewerlers…
without health, wealth is meaningless… wihout health, quality of life suffers… eat healthy, move more, stress less, love more… 4 simple rules to live by for good health…
best of wishes to all and to all a long and healthy life. Steve H, MD FAAN FACNS