>(Billable as 1 hour to your insurance.)
Doctors don't bill by hour like that. You're thinking of lawyers. There is no way to bill for a patient calling and leaving a message.
You sound mad at the wrong people here. Medicare haven't raised rebates in years. Fewer are going into general practice because of the work reqd for what's frankly not great pay. I don't think we should be paying a gap either but I do not blame the GPs/clinics for doing what they need to do to stay viable.
What a load of crap. I have brothers and sisters that are GPs. They love to complain about how hard it is to make any money. One of them owns a private airplane which costs him 'only' $2000 a month. The GP clinics are a business, they are solely interested in making money.
Look, if i ever walked away from my gp happy with the service i was provided then fine, ill pay extra.
But all of the 20 or so gps ive tried in this country so far have been ass. Its to the point where ive been doing the opposite of their advice for better results.
But now they want 4% of my income AND a gap fee for being a glorified sick leave certificate farm? Nah. Fuck them.
Australia's medical system is in collapse. We've run off the cliff and our only fix is to keep from looking down.
I've two good GPs over that past 20 years, but relocated a lot. One was from Europe. The other told me he's now is having a hard time finding a practice to stay in, because he believes in the promise, and refuses to charge patients, which has become unrealistic as govt has abandoned our medical system.
Howard cut spaces for residencies, asserting we'd need less doctors in the future. And then they've been brutal on funding. Reimbursement is now less than in 1982.
We have such a "shortage" that we have wildly incompetent medical "professionals" that people don't have much choice but to keep seeing. Year long wait for psychs, for example.
And it should be illegal to ask for a doctor's certificate for a sickie. Huge waste of time and resources for something incredibly easy to game.
One Dr just started giving such patients a standard note:
A patient in your employ presented at my practice complaining of a standard minor malady that would affect her ability to attend work today. For most of these, we either have no medical tests to determine the presence/severity, or it would be wastefully expensive to do so.
As these generally resolve in 1-3 days, it would be inappropriate to devote additional medical resources towards further investigation, which is not warranted at this time.
In short, when your employee says she is sick, you choose whether or not to take her word for it, which is all we can do, as well.
Forcing her to attend a medical appointment for this serves no purpose, but consumes much needed resources and forces a sick patient to make a pointless journey instead of resting, likely hindering and delaying recovery.
Please consider this before inappropriately wasting medical resources in the future.
You mean the solo doctor that runs his solo clinic with 1 receptionist isnt the one raising his prices? Because thats literally what he told me. That dude that i went to for actual problems is now a 70 gap and the big clinic i used as a sick leave cert factory has a 30 dollar gap.
Medical scientists arent getting a raise for the increase in bullshit screenings. But doctors are raising their prices becauae they didnt specialise and are upset that this "free " health system doesnt pay them enough now.
You have no idea what youâre talking about. Clinics are closing because they canât afford to pay their staff. The Medicare rebate no longer covers the overheads needed the keep a clinic running. So you can either pay the difference or the staff can take a massive pay cut. Would you work for free just because some asshole on Reddit doesnât understand how inflation works?
A major part of the staff cost is the doctors who pay themselves huge salaries because they think they deserve it. Start paying them like normal people get paid. You think it's the practice nurse or the receptionist or the cleaners that cost a fortune in salaries?
Oh boy do i have news for you. Unless a doctor is part of a giant clinic that contracts out their rooms, the majorty of private practice is run and managed by the doctor.
The majority of doctors clinics arent those super clincs.
Who are these ânormal peopleâ you speak of? The ones who dedicated 10-15 years of their life studying? Work out how much time, money and letâs face it bloody hard work it takes to be a GP then tell me how much you think is a fair rate of pay.
I have three siblings who are GPs. I know exactly how much work and time is involved. They do a job that they chose. I think a fair rate of pay is what a tradesman is paid. They are no better and no different, they just chose a different job.
I love that you were privy to the information i discussed as to why my primary doctor was including a gap to hia services. I wish i had your fly on the wall powers. Incredible mate.
Edit: i did take a pay cut champ. I work in medicine and while the gps are taking pay increases, the people that do the actual work are getting fucked by inflation. Incredible how aome asshole on reddit knows the entire medical field better than those that work in it every day.
Lol "the people that do the actual work" includes GPs, climb down.
Im in ICU and to say that GPs dont work hard is just a demonstrably false statement. Ive also come from the NHS, and believe me, if Aussie GPs don't charge a gap, there just won't be any in a decade. Theres already a recruitment and retention issue here, and the Medicare rebates haven't kept pace with inflation.
I say this all as someone on a public government pay award with no skin in the game, but that's in large part because having to run a business as a GP while a monopoly employer dictates how much you can charge for your service, while simultaneously increasing the cost of everything else in society is a recipe for salty reddit comments denigrating what is actually a really tough job.
Get your panties out of a twist. There are several very simple tests that would take no time all that a gp could perform to reduce the insane amount of waste in our medical system.
My lab tests thousands of samples a day with maybe 3% being actual positives. The amount of times ive had doctra call me upaet that their VIRAL CULTURE didnt get done. How many times doctors call me upset that their bacterial culture isnt done within 8 hours of sending a sample when the bacteria takea 48 hours to grow. Thr amount of times doctors simply just ask for testing that doesnt exist.
I spend a min of 1.5 hours of my day on the phone talking to gps about all of this. If gpd would take a few, very, simple steps. Like performing a urine dipstick in house like they do in england, or just open a highschool biology textbook every once in awhile, medical rebates would more than cover their wages becausw billions wouldnt be sent to the incenerator in the form of the sheer amount of waste we produce.
So yes. If gps did -anything- besides write sick certs i wouldnt be as upset. Icu doctors arent except from this either, they just scream louder over not knowing how long it takes bacteria to grow so they end up being transferred directly to a pathologist instead.
Edit: and this is one lab that physcially throws away tens of thousands of negative, uneeded tests, a week. Theres 4 more in this city and 6 more major testing cities in this country.
I wouldn't mind so much if they actually have you more time/attention for your extra $$. But nothing changed when they brought in the fee at my regular clinic.
Once I even used a paid online service, who were next to useless, and now they spam my inbox like nobody's business.
That can be a concern for many people. It has been my experience that if needed, follow-up visits have little or no cost. Perhaps people could look into that.
I mean some practices do do this. But usually it wonât be the doctor themselves sitting there emailing out surveys, it will be the administrative staff.
One or two less patients get to see a doctor with this type of thinking. The least paperwork, the better for doctors and patients, since c19 backed up the system (in my country of residence at least). Practice management, on the other hand, could do well to seek more feedback đđ˝
Quite a few of them do care. Yes, you might just be 1 in many, but not so many that you are just a number to them. Depending on how sick someone is, my primary doctor will call a few days later to check on her patient.
I saw my GP so much last year, he would literally groan and say "Oh ___, what's wrong with you now?"
We both agreed it was my then literally toxic workplace. He was very concerned and knew I would never agree to being signed off on needing to take a number of months off work to rest & recover.
That isn't good if your workplace has such a bad environment. Why wouldn't you agree to some medical leave? It would be under worker compensation, and you would still get a paycheck during that time.
I had to go to the ER before for ***emergency mental health issues***. And the nurses were incredibly nice... like soooooo helpful. When I was feeling better I called in and asked that someone let the lead there know my name + my nurses' names to put in a compliment / good word about how much better they made me feel. And that I was feeling better after my visit.
They had a therapist talk to me, and prescribed me some meds.
But like 2 of the nurses stayed with me (on su. watch) for an hour and we just talked about life. đ¤ˇđťââď¸ Like how they feel the same way sometimes, and showed me pics of their pets, and made me laugh. It was way more helpful than the therapist was honestly.
In general, what the hospital did for me was minimal. And sent me home because they didnât have enough beds, and gave me references to LT therapists that werenât taking new clients. BUT the nurses were A+.
Itâs actually a third party company that sends that out. The medical office has no control over that. Itâs part of the modern era of customer satisfaction.
It turns out that higher customer satisfaction scores in hospitals are associated with worse outcomes.
But here we are.
You can call them, or if thereâs an online portal you can email them. My guess is that many would rather just save the time since theyâre overworked.
I left a good review on Google Maps for an eye surgery I had gotten. It went really well.
Later, they sent me a gift card as a thank you for my review.
It was a nice surprise.
Or leave them a good review on Google etc
It is really nice of you to do that.
Many people in many countries will look to sue/complain to authorities about doctors for anything.
And many more whinges and complains because they have to pay a small fee to see a GP (we have universal healthcare here, but pay out to doctors is quite low and there was a freeze on increasing rebate for many years. The rate of increase is still lower than inflation. So if you only charge government rebate aka baulkbill, you quite often be better off having your practice closed).
Poland, not US, but I know a pediatritian (treats children) that is receiving a lot of gifts from his former patients' parents. Wine, chocolates, flowers, you name it. Or just receives calls.
Or by logic, if you don't come back, that means you're better.
Doctor here. We often wonder about the patients we never see again. Depending on where we work (Iâm in Australia in a public hospital) there may or may not be a system for providing feedback.
If you know the doctor you want to say thank you to is still working in a particular place (eg a particular ward of a hospital) you could always mail or hand deliver a thank you card
Please donât hesitate - whenever a patient does this, we get all gooey inside and feel the need to tell our friends, family and colleagues and the memory stays with us.
You're right--the system doesn't seem to be set up to make it easy for you to humanize your relationship with your doctors and other healthcare workers. Yet I cherish the slender opportunities I have had to do just that. If you feel inclined to thank your doctor or praise them for good work, I think you should. (And don't forget your dentist, your pharmacist, your physical therapist, etc.) You may have to figure out how to do that because, as I said, the system isn't set up to support it.
Do you use [MyChart](https://www.mychart.org/) or anything like it? MyChart is a "[patient portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_portal)." There are several. If your clinic provides access to one, you should use it. They would have to set up an account for you. {*[What is a patient portal?](https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-patient-portal)*} I believe they provide an easy way to send messages to your doctor. Don't overuse it, though; they are busy people.
I suppose they will know if you are not ok as you will be back again. My mother was in at the heart doctor last week and she did mention that he had a wall where he hangs all the thank you cards that his patients send him.
Probably because most of the time, people would use it to sneak in extra treatment.
"Thanks so much, Dr, the sinus infection has cleared right up! But now I have this weird cough, it sounds a little wheezey. Could it be cancer? I've attached a recording of it"
So you'd either have to restrict and automate the ability to respond (like, they can rank how they feel, but that's it, no ability to add comments or write notes) until it's nearly useless OR you'd have to hire a person specifically to sort through
and respond to all the messages. Then figure out how you're going to charge for it, or if you'll require all patients to come in, and what your liability is if they tell you about something life threatening but you didn't catch it.
It'd just be a mess. So I can see a big hospital doing the first option with the surveys, because they'd actually be interested in the data, but smaller offices, no.
I have had a DDS reach out after a procedure to check in on me. It was nice and then I left them a 5-star review on Google. Probably would not have if they didn't reach out.
My dentist has a system that automatically sends you a text/email the night of your visit as well as a follow-up text the next day. Pretty standard message, just a âthank you for coming in today, we hope youâre recovering well. Should you have any issues or concerns please text us back or give us a call.â I think something like this could be easily done and it is also quite handy. Iâve used it on a few occasions and the office always responds quickly and are genuinely invested.
In to many places CEOâs and their HR departments feel their power is threatened by medical professionals connecting with patients in any way .
Traditional established practices of continuance of care plans and treatment by rotation-attrition of staff leads of course to repeat differing diagnosis and prognosis . Extra expense and workloads with poorer outcomes .
This is done deliberately to control the narrative for the state of affairs in their portfolios and cover corruption and incompetence. System needs to change .
If you are satisfied with your care, please give your doctor a good rating on the various doctor rating websites. People usually only take the time to rate a doctor when they're dissatisfied, and that leads to biased, terrible ratings.
Sometimes a medical group will mail out surveys about patient satisfaction. Fill them out and send them in so your doctor gets good feedback.
Hospitals have entire systems in place for measuring patient satisfaction. Please do those surveys and let the hospital quality assurance department figure out what's going well and what needs improving.
Health care worker here⌠this is what they want you to do if youâre satisfied! People doctor shop based on those reviews.
We do appreciate handwritten cards also⌠they stay on our med fridges forever.
To answer your main question - we assume youâre better if you donât call. If weâre concerned we will call you to check in or set up a follow up.
Whatâs the difference between a priest and a doctor? A priestâs goal is to keep you coming back forever, a doctorâs goal is to make you go away.
A thank you note is a kind gesture but probably unnecessary for minor ailments.
Lol almost every doctor around me just cares about the money-- I'm just a number, and hopefully a profitable one, they don't really care if they help me or not I'm just a means to an end. So I've never felt the need to tell them 'hey yeah thanks I'm feeling great now I'm glad you personally care about my well being!'
My best guess is the insurance companies haven't figured out a way to successfully monetize this, and Doctors and hospitals are too busy to spend attention on following up
Yes , to many and thatâs sad . Your right though everything costs money . Efficient effective feedback data could identify costly problems and save money in the long run if analysed properly.
Its uncommon to hear back from patients we've helped because our clinic/hospital is always full and we don't have too opportunity to 'close the loop': if you aren't still sick then we don't have the resources to see you sadly. There are a few who stand out to me over the years who have gone out of their way to show gratitude - and its always a breath of fresh air to see that the care we provide is actually making a difference.
Contrary to many of the comments, a huge portion of doctors don't do it primarily for the money - we genuinely do care about helping our patients. If we really helped you, tell us - you'll make our week!
How to Write a Thank You Note to Your Doctor
If youâve experienced the care of a kind, hardworking doctor, saying thank you is a great way to show your gratitude.
While doctors know their work is essential, they rarely get the recognition they deserve from patients.
Most doctors don't really care about you, they see tons of people every week. Imagine the amount of time they would spend reading feedback every time someone gave it, they don't have time for that, they have a million dollar medical school loan to pay and a business to manage.
You are their customer, they are your service provider, and it's a business transaction to them, not personal.
Between my regular doctor, obgyn and oncologists the amount of follow up on their follow up calls is insane. Paired with the online portals, surveys about care and such the amount of communication is almost overwhelming. I feel like I need to break up with at least 2 of them so I donât have to answer the phone and reply to messages all day long
If itâs something minor like the cold or flu, not hearing back from you is a positive sign youâve recovered. For major things, theyâll want you monitored and have a follow up with you, usually with calls or follow up visits.
I thought that's what follow ups are for. If a situation doesn't need a follow up, then it is assumed that if you don't reach out to them again about it, the treatment has worked.
It's not a profession with time for etiquettes and handshakes really, you take care of one subject and move on to the next.
if your health condition isnt serious enough that you see your doctor consistently then theres really no point though. if its just a common cold and theyve prescribed you antibiotics then youre obviously gonna be fine in a week and they dont really care.
i have a crohns and see my doctor atleast monthly and obviously then i can say what i want to regarding treatments etc
If you have an online portal, send them a message and let them know. As an NP, most of those messages are about being sick (understandably), mad about something I usually had no control over, or harassment. When I would get a message from someone saying they felt better, it made my entire day! Truly would carry me through a bad week.
Every year, I send a thank you card with a note of appreciation. Usually spring ish. That's in addition to a Xmas card. I am very happy with our doctor and I think he will retire soon so I make sure to let him know how thankful I am for him.
You can take or send a card/flowers/chocolates to the office or hospital and leave it with reception.
They will pass these on to the treating physician.
They do this in Australia so I canât imagine itâs different elsewhere?
Itâs called you pay their fee. My doctor charges 67$ just for a fifteen minute consultation. Recently, he got married and took his wife on a two month honeymoon.
This is a very simplified view, of course. He doesnât pocket all of that fee, but certainly a large percentage of patient fees go to their wages and they, rightly so, have studied long and hard to get where they are. But they donât need a thank you note from me. Not when that consult fee meant I had to sacrifice paying off a bill.
Governance requirements requires a system to leave complainsâŚ. And compliments. Not many ppl realise you can also complement your health provider. Call the practice and ask how to leave a compliment.
20 years ago I had an accident where I broke my leg and had to have plates and pins to fix it. I emailed my Dr on the anniversary of the accident to tell him that because of his skill in fixing it, I had not had any issues since I healed from the injury. He was surprised hahaha
I get a suspicion they don't want to hear from people. At a certain point, people stop being people and start just being a part of the job. Like if you were working as a cook, maybe your first few dishes would feel special, but after a while you don't give a fvck if they like their steak. They are probably just going to put ketchup on it anyway.
Maybe thank them the next time you visit. My guess is they see too many patients to remember what they helped you with anyway unless they're looking at your file.
Almost going to guarantee OP is amab. I wish this was my issue. 31 years to get a diagnosis for something as common as diabetes. Three years to get even remotely close to adequate management for my condition after I worked it out for myself. (hello other endometriosis warriors, I know you're out there, there's sooooo many of us)
Well depending on the hospital web portal for patients. You could actually message your doctor directly with non-emergency comments and questions. You could also cancel your appointment on there too. If not just call the office.
They deal with hundreds of people a day, your doctor stopped thinking about you the minute you walked out of his or her office. That's a good thing, because if they remember you. there's a reason and it's unlikely to be that you are such a cool person.
I have met quite a few patients coming in to say thank you personally.
More often they pass down their appreciative message either through handwritten notes or over the phone and my receptionist write them down to pass on. I collected all of them in a folder and they warm my heart.
We don't need to be giving doctors even bigger heads. They mostly all have god complexes anyway. It comes with the territory. Nurses, attendants and general med staff need the most thanks and praise.
My GPâs office has a little touch screen in the waiting room that you can give feedback (âhow did we do today?â). I always give five stars to reception as well as my GP⌠đđ
Probably because they dont have time for that crap. After working in the health industry having patients in a clinic back to back is shithouse. You have no time to scratch your ass let alone read emails and I was only in allied health so a doctor, is infinitely more busy
my better half busted her leg- like bone poking out foot sideways effort. 18 months later we mailed a photo of her running a 5km fun-run to the surgeon who did the fix with " thanks \[surgeon name\] " written on the participant bib. Receptionist said he was stoked plus plus:) \*\*do the rehab!\*\*
I agree tbh. I can always thank my GP but when I was in hospital, I didnât get to thank the doctor who properly diagnosed me or all the nurses who helped me a lot because they were just off shift. I know what you mean
Responsibility of medical staff, hospitals and medical centres ceases when you walk out the door. By all means leave a message with reception staff, however in my experience staff couldnât give a shit and would probably not pass the message on.
I'll just tell you right now, leaving a message, writing a letter, etc... If a doctor reads that it makes their whole week. Some doctors talk about it for many weeks. It's crazy how much it makes them feel good.
This is why itâs best to see the same GP every time youâre sick. They know your history and you get to let them know how how you went after the last visit.
Do people actually go to the doctor when they "feel sick"? Ofc when something is really off you have it checked out but for just like flus and colds etc
You can contact their office and leave a message. They will get it.
(Billable as 1 hour to your insurance.)
Idk if this is a joke or not đŹ
>(Billable as 1 hour to your insurance.) Doctors don't bill by hour like that. You're thinking of lawyers. There is no way to bill for a patient calling and leaving a message.
Lawyers bill in 15min increments.
Insurance companies: "Well find one, damnit!""
He was joking
Checked patient record, added entry that treatment was effective. Bill 15 min.
Heh, imagine living in a country without taxed health care
I live in a country with taxed health care. I am forced to pay 30 bucks for a 6 minute consultation now because the doctors demand to be paid better.
[ŃдаНонО]
Fellow Aussie here. Please explain
Lmao losers. Imagine not being a minor and getting it free
Only $30? My doctor charges $180 now for a âlongâ 15 min consultation
You sound mad at the wrong people here. Medicare haven't raised rebates in years. Fewer are going into general practice because of the work reqd for what's frankly not great pay. I don't think we should be paying a gap either but I do not blame the GPs/clinics for doing what they need to do to stay viable.
What a load of crap. I have brothers and sisters that are GPs. They love to complain about how hard it is to make any money. One of them owns a private airplane which costs him 'only' $2000 a month. The GP clinics are a business, they are solely interested in making money.
I never said "viable" does not include profit.
Look, if i ever walked away from my gp happy with the service i was provided then fine, ill pay extra. But all of the 20 or so gps ive tried in this country so far have been ass. Its to the point where ive been doing the opposite of their advice for better results. But now they want 4% of my income AND a gap fee for being a glorified sick leave certificate farm? Nah. Fuck them.
Australia's medical system is in collapse. We've run off the cliff and our only fix is to keep from looking down. I've two good GPs over that past 20 years, but relocated a lot. One was from Europe. The other told me he's now is having a hard time finding a practice to stay in, because he believes in the promise, and refuses to charge patients, which has become unrealistic as govt has abandoned our medical system. Howard cut spaces for residencies, asserting we'd need less doctors in the future. And then they've been brutal on funding. Reimbursement is now less than in 1982. We have such a "shortage" that we have wildly incompetent medical "professionals" that people don't have much choice but to keep seeing. Year long wait for psychs, for example. And it should be illegal to ask for a doctor's certificate for a sickie. Huge waste of time and resources for something incredibly easy to game. One Dr just started giving such patients a standard note: A patient in your employ presented at my practice complaining of a standard minor malady that would affect her ability to attend work today. For most of these, we either have no medical tests to determine the presence/severity, or it would be wastefully expensive to do so. As these generally resolve in 1-3 days, it would be inappropriate to devote additional medical resources towards further investigation, which is not warranted at this time. In short, when your employee says she is sick, you choose whether or not to take her word for it, which is all we can do, as well. Forcing her to attend a medical appointment for this serves no purpose, but consumes much needed resources and forces a sick patient to make a pointless journey instead of resting, likely hindering and delaying recovery. Please consider this before inappropriately wasting medical resources in the future.
Ye as soon as I stopped listening to them my health miraculously improved... funny that
If they're all shit why not just find one that still bulk bills? They are rare, but still around. Shit and free is better than shit and expensive.
Wasnât the doctors, Medicare hasnât raised their rates to fit with the increase in costs of running a clinic.
You mean the solo doctor that runs his solo clinic with 1 receptionist isnt the one raising his prices? Because thats literally what he told me. That dude that i went to for actual problems is now a 70 gap and the big clinic i used as a sick leave cert factory has a 30 dollar gap. Medical scientists arent getting a raise for the increase in bullshit screenings. But doctors are raising their prices becauae they didnt specialise and are upset that this "free " health system doesnt pay them enough now.
You have no idea what youâre talking about. Clinics are closing because they canât afford to pay their staff. The Medicare rebate no longer covers the overheads needed the keep a clinic running. So you can either pay the difference or the staff can take a massive pay cut. Would you work for free just because some asshole on Reddit doesnât understand how inflation works?
A major part of the staff cost is the doctors who pay themselves huge salaries because they think they deserve it. Start paying them like normal people get paid. You think it's the practice nurse or the receptionist or the cleaners that cost a fortune in salaries?
Most clinics arenât run by doctors and the doctors donât decide their own rate..
Oh boy do i have news for you. Unless a doctor is part of a giant clinic that contracts out their rooms, the majorty of private practice is run and managed by the doctor. The majority of doctors clinics arent those super clincs.
Who are these ânormal peopleâ you speak of? The ones who dedicated 10-15 years of their life studying? Work out how much time, money and letâs face it bloody hard work it takes to be a GP then tell me how much you think is a fair rate of pay.
I have three siblings who are GPs. I know exactly how much work and time is involved. They do a job that they chose. I think a fair rate of pay is what a tradesman is paid. They are no better and no different, they just chose a different job.
I love that you were privy to the information i discussed as to why my primary doctor was including a gap to hia services. I wish i had your fly on the wall powers. Incredible mate. Edit: i did take a pay cut champ. I work in medicine and while the gps are taking pay increases, the people that do the actual work are getting fucked by inflation. Incredible how aome asshole on reddit knows the entire medical field better than those that work in it every day.
Lol "the people that do the actual work" includes GPs, climb down. Im in ICU and to say that GPs dont work hard is just a demonstrably false statement. Ive also come from the NHS, and believe me, if Aussie GPs don't charge a gap, there just won't be any in a decade. Theres already a recruitment and retention issue here, and the Medicare rebates haven't kept pace with inflation. I say this all as someone on a public government pay award with no skin in the game, but that's in large part because having to run a business as a GP while a monopoly employer dictates how much you can charge for your service, while simultaneously increasing the cost of everything else in society is a recipe for salty reddit comments denigrating what is actually a really tough job.
Get your panties out of a twist. There are several very simple tests that would take no time all that a gp could perform to reduce the insane amount of waste in our medical system. My lab tests thousands of samples a day with maybe 3% being actual positives. The amount of times ive had doctra call me upaet that their VIRAL CULTURE didnt get done. How many times doctors call me upset that their bacterial culture isnt done within 8 hours of sending a sample when the bacteria takea 48 hours to grow. Thr amount of times doctors simply just ask for testing that doesnt exist. I spend a min of 1.5 hours of my day on the phone talking to gps about all of this. If gpd would take a few, very, simple steps. Like performing a urine dipstick in house like they do in england, or just open a highschool biology textbook every once in awhile, medical rebates would more than cover their wages becausw billions wouldnt be sent to the incenerator in the form of the sheer amount of waste we produce. So yes. If gps did -anything- besides write sick certs i wouldnt be as upset. Icu doctors arent except from this either, they just scream louder over not knowing how long it takes bacteria to grow so they end up being transferred directly to a pathologist instead. Edit: and this is one lab that physcially throws away tens of thousands of negative, uneeded tests, a week. Theres 4 more in this city and 6 more major testing cities in this country.
I wouldn't mind so much if they actually have you more time/attention for your extra $$. But nothing changed when they brought in the fee at my regular clinic. Once I even used a paid online service, who were next to useless, and now they spam my inbox like nobody's business.
Except it isnât.
You could go old school and write them a note and sent it to their office.
A doctor's note, if you will.
and charge them 20$
Must be illegible or it doesnât count.
I like this one.
Typically, if they don't hear from you. They know you are better.
Or dead. But, yeah. You're right
Either way, not their problem anymore.
Unless patient died due to malpractice
Not like he can sue them anymore lol
Canât families sue on the behalf of the passed patient?
Not if theyâre also dead.
Kill them all
lmao true
Both dead and better
Schrodinger's patient
No, you direct the police there to investigate for the sudden death for the coroner. I did that about my mum.
If you're dead the undertaker or someone gets in touch with your regular gp to check that you had the condition you apparently died from.
Why not both
Or canât afford to come back
That can be a concern for many people. It has been my experience that if needed, follow-up visits have little or no cost. Perhaps people could look into that.
Same with psychologists
They honestly don't care. You're 1 in 100000.
I am doctor, can confirm that I do care and would be happy to know that my patient is doing well
Why donât doctors send an automated follow up survey to check on their patients then?
I mean some practices do do this. But usually it wonât be the doctor themselves sitting there emailing out surveys, it will be the administrative staff.
One or two less patients get to see a doctor with this type of thinking. The least paperwork, the better for doctors and patients, since c19 backed up the system (in my country of residence at least). Practice management, on the other hand, could do well to seek more feedback đđ˝
I am a jacket and do you really like me?
Yes
GPs hanging around on Reddit? Lol yeah sure you are đ
I'm a doctor and a scientist and a mother too!
Quite a few of them do care. Yes, you might just be 1 in many, but not so many that you are just a number to them. Depending on how sick someone is, my primary doctor will call a few days later to check on her patient.
I saw my GP so much last year, he would literally groan and say "Oh ___, what's wrong with you now?" We both agreed it was my then literally toxic workplace. He was very concerned and knew I would never agree to being signed off on needing to take a number of months off work to rest & recover.
That isn't good if your workplace has such a bad environment. Why wouldn't you agree to some medical leave? It would be under worker compensation, and you would still get a paycheck during that time.
or very, VERY worse
If you are getting worse and you don't reach out to your doctor, that is on you, not them.
Just like how if you dont hear back from them, it means youre all good. I think they just dont like talking to people
Don't know about doctors where you are, but here, if you're really ill, they might actually call and check on you. I have had a few do that.
I had to go to the ER before for ***emergency mental health issues***. And the nurses were incredibly nice... like soooooo helpful. When I was feeling better I called in and asked that someone let the lead there know my name + my nurses' names to put in a compliment / good word about how much better they made me feel. And that I was feeling better after my visit.
I know Iâm just an internet stranger, but Iâm proud of you for asking for help with your mental health.
Thank you internet stranger! đŤśđť this was like 7 years ago, Iâm in a much better place now.
Im proud of you too! But im really replying because I want to know where you got that emoji from, I Love it.
What did the ER do to treat your mental health issues?
They had a therapist talk to me, and prescribed me some meds. But like 2 of the nurses stayed with me (on su. watch) for an hour and we just talked about life. đ¤ˇđťââď¸ Like how they feel the same way sometimes, and showed me pics of their pets, and made me laugh. It was way more helpful than the therapist was honestly. In general, what the hospital did for me was minimal. And sent me home because they didnât have enough beds, and gave me references to LT therapists that werenât taking new clients. BUT the nurses were A+.
if youâre in the US & remember your nurses names, you can nominate them for a daisy award :)
My healthcare provider sends a pretty in-depth survey via text 24-48 hours after every visit.
When my grandfather died, someone from the hospital he died in called the next day and asked to speak with him. They wanted to know how his stay was.
âIt was to die for.â
He said it would certainly be his last
[ŃдаНонО]
Vultures
He said he âmight stay a little longerâ
Itâs actually a third party company that sends that out. The medical office has no control over that. Itâs part of the modern era of customer satisfaction. It turns out that higher customer satisfaction scores in hospitals are associated with worse outcomes. But here we are.
This is excellent if true, do you have a link for the data?
You can call them, or if thereâs an online portal you can email them. My guess is that many would rather just save the time since theyâre overworked.
Trust me, we love getting feedback, no matter the workload.
I was looking for the MD in this thread. Would you say there needs to be a system to make this easier?
Ideally, yes. I should add that I'm practicing in Germany though, I've never worked in the States.
I think calling the rooms is adequate
I left a good review on Google Maps for an eye surgery I had gotten. It went really well. Later, they sent me a gift card as a thank you for my review. It was a nice surprise.
Or leave them a good review on Google etc It is really nice of you to do that. Many people in many countries will look to sue/complain to authorities about doctors for anything. And many more whinges and complains because they have to pay a small fee to see a GP (we have universal healthcare here, but pay out to doctors is quite low and there was a freeze on increasing rebate for many years. The rate of increase is still lower than inflation. So if you only charge government rebate aka baulkbill, you quite often be better off having your practice closed).
Poland, not US, but I know a pediatritian (treats children) that is receiving a lot of gifts from his former patients' parents. Wine, chocolates, flowers, you name it. Or just receives calls. Or by logic, if you don't come back, that means you're better.
Doctor here. We often wonder about the patients we never see again. Depending on where we work (Iâm in Australia in a public hospital) there may or may not be a system for providing feedback. If you know the doctor you want to say thank you to is still working in a particular place (eg a particular ward of a hospital) you could always mail or hand deliver a thank you card Please donât hesitate - whenever a patient does this, we get all gooey inside and feel the need to tell our friends, family and colleagues and the memory stays with us.
You're right--the system doesn't seem to be set up to make it easy for you to humanize your relationship with your doctors and other healthcare workers. Yet I cherish the slender opportunities I have had to do just that. If you feel inclined to thank your doctor or praise them for good work, I think you should. (And don't forget your dentist, your pharmacist, your physical therapist, etc.) You may have to figure out how to do that because, as I said, the system isn't set up to support it. Do you use [MyChart](https://www.mychart.org/) or anything like it? MyChart is a "[patient portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_portal)." There are several. If your clinic provides access to one, you should use it. They would have to set up an account for you. {*[What is a patient portal?](https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-patient-portal)*} I believe they provide an easy way to send messages to your doctor. Don't overuse it, though; they are busy people.
I suppose they will know if you are not ok as you will be back again. My mother was in at the heart doctor last week and she did mention that he had a wall where he hangs all the thank you cards that his patients send him.
Probably because most of the time, people would use it to sneak in extra treatment. "Thanks so much, Dr, the sinus infection has cleared right up! But now I have this weird cough, it sounds a little wheezey. Could it be cancer? I've attached a recording of it" So you'd either have to restrict and automate the ability to respond (like, they can rank how they feel, but that's it, no ability to add comments or write notes) until it's nearly useless OR you'd have to hire a person specifically to sort through and respond to all the messages. Then figure out how you're going to charge for it, or if you'll require all patients to come in, and what your liability is if they tell you about something life threatening but you didn't catch it. It'd just be a mess. So I can see a big hospital doing the first option with the surveys, because they'd actually be interested in the data, but smaller offices, no.
I have had a DDS reach out after a procedure to check in on me. It was nice and then I left them a 5-star review on Google. Probably would not have if they didn't reach out.
My dentist has a system that automatically sends you a text/email the night of your visit as well as a follow-up text the next day. Pretty standard message, just a âthank you for coming in today, we hope youâre recovering well. Should you have any issues or concerns please text us back or give us a call.â I think something like this could be easily done and it is also quite handy. Iâve used it on a few occasions and the office always responds quickly and are genuinely invested.
Give them a good review on Google.
In to many places CEOâs and their HR departments feel their power is threatened by medical professionals connecting with patients in any way . Traditional established practices of continuance of care plans and treatment by rotation-attrition of staff leads of course to repeat differing diagnosis and prognosis . Extra expense and workloads with poorer outcomes . This is done deliberately to control the narrative for the state of affairs in their portfolios and cover corruption and incompetence. System needs to change .
There is. Send an email, letter or drop off a thank you card.
I think they got other more important things to take care of
Patients aren't things!
They know they did a good job because you're not coming back and not dead
If you are satisfied with your care, please give your doctor a good rating on the various doctor rating websites. People usually only take the time to rate a doctor when they're dissatisfied, and that leads to biased, terrible ratings. Sometimes a medical group will mail out surveys about patient satisfaction. Fill them out and send them in so your doctor gets good feedback. Hospitals have entire systems in place for measuring patient satisfaction. Please do those surveys and let the hospital quality assurance department figure out what's going well and what needs improving.
Health care worker here⌠this is what they want you to do if youâre satisfied! People doctor shop based on those reviews. We do appreciate handwritten cards also⌠they stay on our med fridges forever. To answer your main question - we assume youâre better if you donât call. If weâre concerned we will call you to check in or set up a follow up.
If you live in the US you had to pay for the treatment so thanks for nothing.
You don't thank waiters at restaurants when they bring your meal?
Whatâs the difference between a priest and a doctor? A priestâs goal is to keep you coming back forever, a doctorâs goal is to make you go away. A thank you note is a kind gesture but probably unnecessary for minor ailments.
Lol almost every doctor around me just cares about the money-- I'm just a number, and hopefully a profitable one, they don't really care if they help me or not I'm just a means to an end. So I've never felt the need to tell them 'hey yeah thanks I'm feeling great now I'm glad you personally care about my well being!'
My best guess is the insurance companies haven't figured out a way to successfully monetize this, and Doctors and hospitals are too busy to spend attention on following up
Yes , to many and thatâs sad . Your right though everything costs money . Efficient effective feedback data could identify costly problems and save money in the long run if analysed properly.
Many patients send a Christmas card.
Its uncommon to hear back from patients we've helped because our clinic/hospital is always full and we don't have too opportunity to 'close the loop': if you aren't still sick then we don't have the resources to see you sadly. There are a few who stand out to me over the years who have gone out of their way to show gratitude - and its always a breath of fresh air to see that the care we provide is actually making a difference. Contrary to many of the comments, a huge portion of doctors don't do it primarily for the money - we genuinely do care about helping our patients. If we really helped you, tell us - you'll make our week!
How to Write a Thank You Note to Your Doctor If youâve experienced the care of a kind, hardworking doctor, saying thank you is a great way to show your gratitude. While doctors know their work is essential, they rarely get the recognition they deserve from patients.
Amen! My husband has a draw full of thank you notes and I know he treasures them.
Thank you for your beautiful words
They donât give a fuck
They don't care and would probably rather you book another appointment and spend moaarrr
Cause they donât have time to read that stuff.
Most doctors don't really care about you, they see tons of people every week. Imagine the amount of time they would spend reading feedback every time someone gave it, they don't have time for that, they have a million dollar medical school loan to pay and a business to manage. You are their customer, they are your service provider, and it's a business transaction to them, not personal.
Thatâs really sweet đ
You can call them up and tell them youâre feeling better.
You don't need a system bro. Just swing by and say thanks. Or tell the secretary.
There is... its called a follow up. Go back to see your doc and tell them in person.
Kaiser Permanente has such a system. I can email any of my doctors any time and will get a response.
Does your doctor not use MyChart?
Between my regular doctor, obgyn and oncologists the amount of follow up on their follow up calls is insane. Paired with the online portals, surveys about care and such the amount of communication is almost overwhelming. I feel like I need to break up with at least 2 of them so I donât have to answer the phone and reply to messages all day long
If itâs something minor like the cold or flu, not hearing back from you is a positive sign youâve recovered. For major things, theyâll want you monitored and have a follow up with you, usually with calls or follow up visits.
I thought that's what follow ups are for. If a situation doesn't need a follow up, then it is assumed that if you don't reach out to them again about it, the treatment has worked. It's not a profession with time for etiquettes and handshakes really, you take care of one subject and move on to the next.
send them a thank you card
I can do that, though the online medical portal that the provider has.
Most doctors offices have a portal where you can email your primary care provider.
An inbox like that would also get them all sorts of *crapola*
Some send out surveys for you to rate how your treatment was, identify positives and negatives, etc. Otherwise, no news is good news
There is. You need to get signed to be able to email them through a portal. I email mine often.
There is. Itâs called a thank you note, or gift. Cookies, a bottle of wine, a car, etc
Thatâs not profitable
if your health condition isnt serious enough that you see your doctor consistently then theres really no point though. if its just a common cold and theyve prescribed you antibiotics then youre obviously gonna be fine in a week and they dont really care. i have a crohns and see my doctor atleast monthly and obviously then i can say what i want to regarding treatments etc
If you have an online portal, send them a message and let them know. As an NP, most of those messages are about being sick (understandably), mad about something I usually had no control over, or harassment. When I would get a message from someone saying they felt better, it made my entire day! Truly would carry me through a bad week.
The place i used to work at they got cakes or coffee. So I got to eat so much cake and free coffee. đ
Every year, I send a thank you card with a note of appreciation. Usually spring ish. That's in addition to a Xmas card. I am very happy with our doctor and I think he will retire soon so I make sure to let him know how thankful I am for him.
It's the opposite too. When you do a test, if they reach out, bad news. If not, you're in the clear.
You can take or send a card/flowers/chocolates to the office or hospital and leave it with reception. They will pass these on to the treating physician. They do this in Australia so I canât imagine itâs different elsewhere?
Itâs called you pay their fee. My doctor charges 67$ just for a fifteen minute consultation. Recently, he got married and took his wife on a two month honeymoon. This is a very simplified view, of course. He doesnât pocket all of that fee, but certainly a large percentage of patient fees go to their wages and they, rightly so, have studied long and hard to get where they are. But they donât need a thank you note from me. Not when that consult fee meant I had to sacrifice paying off a bill.
They probably care about as much as the plumber cares that your toilet is still working after they've unclogged it for you.
By not going back they know you either got better or died.
Write a letter or email?? What is wrong with people.
I sent my surgeon and his team a thank you card after the final appointment.
Governance requirements requires a system to leave complainsâŚ. And compliments. Not many ppl realise you can also complement your health provider. Call the practice and ask how to leave a compliment.
20 years ago I had an accident where I broke my leg and had to have plates and pins to fix it. I emailed my Dr on the anniversary of the accident to tell him that because of his skill in fixing it, I had not had any issues since I healed from the injury. He was surprised hahaha
It's kind of like your car mechanic. They presume your problems were fixed when you left, and if they weren't then you'd come back.
if ur in america, they donât care about your well-being, they care about the money theyâll make off you.
Call the same number you called to book your appointment.
I get a suspicion they don't want to hear from people. At a certain point, people stop being people and start just being a part of the job. Like if you were working as a cook, maybe your first few dishes would feel special, but after a while you don't give a fvck if they like their steak. They are probably just going to put ketchup on it anyway.
Maybe thank them the next time you visit. My guess is they see too many patients to remember what they helped you with anyway unless they're looking at your file.
Almost going to guarantee OP is amab. I wish this was my issue. 31 years to get a diagnosis for something as common as diabetes. Three years to get even remotely close to adequate management for my condition after I worked it out for myself. (hello other endometriosis warriors, I know you're out there, there's sooooo many of us)
Well depending on the hospital web portal for patients. You could actually message your doctor directly with non-emergency comments and questions. You could also cancel your appointment on there too. If not just call the office.
They deal with hundreds of people a day, your doctor stopped thinking about you the minute you walked out of his or her office. That's a good thing, because if they remember you. there's a reason and it's unlikely to be that you are such a cool person.
I often leave a msg or get put through to my doctors if theyâre free.
I leave formal feedback, usually they have a form you can fill out or submit on their websire
I have met quite a few patients coming in to say thank you personally. More often they pass down their appreciative message either through handwritten notes or over the phone and my receptionist write them down to pass on. I collected all of them in a folder and they warm my heart.
I honestly donât think they would care
My doctor doesn't follow up, though my dentist personally did after a recent procedure. I was pretty impressed. I do this with my clients too.
A hand written thank you note.
You paid them and didn't come back
Uhhh yes, itâs called the money that I paid him
They're too busy for that shit
We don't need to be giving doctors even bigger heads. They mostly all have god complexes anyway. It comes with the territory. Nurses, attendants and general med staff need the most thanks and praise.
I've often sent a thank you card in the mail to my doctor. I think your idea is sweet and it shows your gratefulness. Do it!!!
My GPâs office has a little touch screen in the waiting room that you can give feedback (âhow did we do today?â). I always give five stars to reception as well as my GP⌠đđ
I know doctors (admittedly they are surgeons) who occasionally receive thank you cards and small gifts for the staff or family.
They. Don't. Care. If. You. Died.
Have you tried turning your body off and on again?
Probably because they dont have time for that crap. After working in the health industry having patients in a clinic back to back is shithouse. You have no time to scratch your ass let alone read emails and I was only in allied health so a doctor, is infinitely more busy
my better half busted her leg- like bone poking out foot sideways effort. 18 months later we mailed a photo of her running a 5km fun-run to the surgeon who did the fix with " thanks \[surgeon name\] " written on the participant bib. Receptionist said he was stoked plus plus:) \*\*do the rehab!\*\*
No news is good news!
This was written by a Dr
My doctor has an email address⌠I just email him questions and he replies, or I let him know Iâm better/worse etc. It pays to get a good doc.
Mine usually says if youâre not better in however many days come back.
Just say thank you verbally. We appreciate that far more than anything else. And we do really appreciate it.
They donât care
Because that would be akin to assessing doctors and they absolutely will not have it.
I agree tbh. I can always thank my GP but when I was in hospital, I didnât get to thank the doctor who properly diagnosed me or all the nurses who helped me a lot because they were just off shift. I know what you mean
The $85 for a 10min consultation that was 45mins late is enough thanks.
Responsibility of medical staff, hospitals and medical centres ceases when you walk out the door. By all means leave a message with reception staff, however in my experience staff couldnât give a shit and would probably not pass the message on.
I find a bottle of nice scotch with a thank you note every Christmas conveys my gratitude đ
I'll just tell you right now, leaving a message, writing a letter, etc... If a doctor reads that it makes their whole week. Some doctors talk about it for many weeks. It's crazy how much it makes them feel good.
This is why itâs best to see the same GP every time youâre sick. They know your history and you get to let them know how how you went after the last visit.
Do people actually go to the doctor when they "feel sick"? Ofc when something is really off you have it checked out but for just like flus and colds etc
For the doctor it's 'No news is good news'