Dear Primary Care Doctors,
If there is one thing that I've learned over the past year, it's one thing:
Do better.
Just do better.
What does this mean? Read charts before you see your patients. It's a part of good medical care. I know that if I took on a new client and someone sent me records, I'd want to see them before that person ever set foot in my office because I wouldn't want them to have to rehash things that might be really difficult. Granted, I'm a mental health practitioner and so I deal with some of the most sensitive stuff that anyone can bring into a practitioner's office, but still. The premise still stands. Good care means knowledge about your patient.
Medical trauma is a thing. While it doesn't show up anywhere in the DSM, for sure it causes PTSD for people. It's not for me currently, but I'm still in my own medical trenches and because of my own mental health history, I'm definitely on alert for symptoms, because my risk of developing it due to medical trauma is high. Having to talk about all of this in detail could have potentially been retraumatizing for me if I were not able to manage as well as I have been.
I hadn't seen my PCP since this time last year for my annual checkup. My hysterectomy had just been scheduled, and I knew that thyroid stuff was coming, but I didn't have any idea what was to come in 2021. For all I knew, I was going to have the hysterectomy and that was going to be it. I hadn't yet had the ultrasound of my thyroid that put my endocrinologist on high alert and had her immediately commit to me having my entire thyroid removed when we previously had just had a discussion about me having half removed. I hadn't yet had any kind of conversation about a meningioma. In fact, the last time I spoke to anyone in my primary care office was in May, when I was called by a nurse who told me that I likely had a meningioma and that I needed to see a neuro-oncologist. I didn't so much mind that, because at the time, I trusted that someone would be following my chart at some point before I saw anyone in my primary care office again.
I was mistaken.
I had my annual checkup this past week and I was forced to rehash everything, because this doctor clearly had no clue what had been going on for me medically. She was surprised when I brought any of it up, as if it was new information. The Lynch Syndrome diagnosis. The endocolonoscopy. The hysterectomy. The thyroid surgery. Thyroid cancer and radioactive iodine. The emergency cerebral angiogram three weeks before my meningioma resection due to a 12-day headache. The menigioma resection, for which I was still on medical leave at the time of this appointment. I was off kilter for the rest of the day after this appointment, and I find myself still bothered by it. I know that my PCP office had access to all of my specialist records, because I signed releases about 15 different times. I know that in my chart, there were notes about these surgeries and medical procedures. What I've realized is how frustrated I was that I had to talk about all of this. The person that I saw tried to be as validating as possible - "Wow, you've been through a lot this year." Yes. I have. And it wasn't helpful for me to have to talk about every bit of it in this appointment. Follow-up questions were appropriate. Disbelief and surprise that I had three surgeries and two medical procedures this year was not.
There has to be a better way. Please find it.
Sincerely,
Me and all other people who've been through a ton of medical stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment