Posted by jerrympls on March 24, 2005, at 17:53:04
In reply to Re: Finding a pdoc » fires, posted by CareBear04 on March 24, 2005, at 13:12:21
> hey fires--
> sorry you're having trouble.
> most univeresity teaching hospitals have outpatient clinics where the 3rd and 4th year residents train. i know you didn't have a good experience with the one person you saw, but maybe you could try again. i've only seen residents in the hospital setting, but i've had a few that are really smart and caring. sometimes you can catch them before they get cynical and disillusioned. when you say it didn't work out, what was the problem? was the resident incompetent? or was it that your personalities didn't click? the residents all have supervisors, so you could probably ask the resident to pass your opinions along or ask to have the supervisor sit in on a session. if one resident isn't a fit, maybe you can try another. when i've been in the hospital with all the layers of authority, i've usually made the best connections with those low on the ladder-- the nursing students, the medical students, and the residents. most of them still seem to care and know that they're there to learn. that's just my experience.
>
> a lot of insurnace companies have a website where you can do a search to see which specialists in your area are preferred and covered. if not, you can usually call a number on your insurnace card and talk to a rep who can give you some names and numbers.
>
> do you need a pdoc for drugs or therapy or both? if you just need the meds, what someone else wrote about not needing a pdoc may be true. when my doctors were in over their head, i went for a one-time consultation with the big-name psychopharmacologist in the area. he reserves a good part of his time to consult on difficult to treat cases. i saw him for an hour, and he was so quick that he was able to devise treatment strategies and options, which he later wrote up and sent to my doctor. i don't need to see him again, but he's willing to consult with my doctor if needed. maybe you could go in for a one-time consultation/assessment for treatment suggestions. with those instructions, a primary care doctor should be able to carry them out, and that would be covered by your insurance, right? i don't know if the consultation would be. mine was covered at least in part.
>
> if you live in a major urban area near at least one academic medical center, i wouldn't lose hope at all. of all the faculty and affiliated pdocs, someone is bound to take your insurance. otherwise, a lot of primairy care doctors are fully able to treat psych ailments with guidance from a specialist.
>
> good luck! please post on how things turn out.I agree with Carebear-residents can be a good thing. I have been seeing 4th year residents for 3 years now. Last year when I had to switch to a different resident (the one I was seeing had a baby) I hated him and thought I was stuck with him - this was not so. I requested to switch to another resident and all I had to do was fill out a form stating why I wanted to switch and that was it. I got in to see a new resident within the month and am happy with him. He is the doctor who - along with his attending doc - is allowing me to augment my current treatment with an opiate. Also, like Carebear said - you can usually catch these "new" pdocs before they become cynical. The residents I have seen have been more than eager for me to bring in any research I find regarding new treatments, etc. They also aren't worried about billing and -in my situation- spend a full 30mins per visit with me. They aren't so anxious to get me out the door so they can squeeze in 100 patients in a day - you know.
Anyway--hang in there and good luck.
Jerry
poster:jerrympls
thread:474694
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050322/msgs/475113.html