Family Practice vs. General Practice?? (And a vent..sorry it's long)

[zwieback]

Is there a major difference between Family Practice and General Practice?? I want to switch doctors and am trying to find one within my insurance network.

I made a doctor's appointment yesterday. I've only been to this office 3 times. Every time I call, I have to leave a message and have someone call me back. Yesterday, I tried to call and no one answered, of course. I decided to try their online form requests. They emailed back with an appointment time to see a nurse practitioner. Now, out of the 3 times I've been to this office, I've only seen the actual doctor once. Ok, fine. No big deal. I go to the 2:15 appointment and was out of there at 2:40 or so. They called in a prescription to my local grocery store pharmacy. I drive to the store and do a little shopping. About an hour had passed between the drive and doing some shopping. I go up to the pharmacy window and the person there said that my prescription (a bottle of eye drops) wasn't ready because the dr's office had just faxed it in 10 minutes prior. I asked how much longer it would be. I was told 20-30 minutes! Seriously?? So, I go and do a little bit more shopping and decide to check out and just go through the drive through. By that time, the 20-30 minutes should have passed. By the time I checked out & waited in the drive through, about 40 minutes had passed. The woman asked for my name about 3 times, she went and looked around. She talked to a couple of people, one of whom was the person I originally talked to. She comes back and tells me the pharmacist is just running it through the computer, go out and get back in line. There were about 4 or 5 cars behind me! I was livid. I told them to just send the prescription over to another pharmacy. The pharmacist comes back and says it's not their fault, the dr's office called in the wrong Rx. They called a prescription in for EAR drops, not EYE drops. It's the same thing, except the ear drops aren't as sterile as the eye drops. So, you can put the eye drops in your ears, but you can't put the ear drops in your eyes.:eek::mad: I just told them to fix it and I'd have my husband pick it up on his way home. By the time I got home, it was 5 pm! Over 2 hours wasted time.

I sent another email to the doctor's office with my complaint. They called this morning and said that the problem was fixed and apologized. I told them that every time I've been into the office the people in the waiting room are all older or elderly people. I said it breaks my heart to think that this could happen to any one of them -- either getting the wrong Rx or having to wait over 2 hours to get their medicine. She said they did fax the Rx over right away. So, basically blaming it on the pharmacy. Who knows?? The doctor's office called back a little bit ago to tell me that my complaint was brought to the superiors in the office and it's being looked into because they have received a lot of complaints that people had to wait a long time to get their medications. :rolleyes::mad:

Sorry this ended up being so long. I just had to vent...

[sneezles]

Is there a major difference between Family Practice and General Practice??

First sorry you had such trouble with the dr's office and the pharmacy.

Second, I believe a Family Practitioner has to do a full residency (3-4 years) where a GP only does not. A FP is board certified. I t may have changed but this is what our Family Practice doctor told me back in the 80s.

[misskitty100]

That stinks! So sorry you had that experience yesterday and good for you for letting the doctors office know about it.

[BucknellAlum]

I am not sure if there is a difference between Family practice and general practice? Unless you mean a general Internist, then there would be a difference. And I am not sure if any you would have any more or less problems with one over the other, as those problems may be specific to the people hired to work in the office.

I must be very lucky with my doctor's offices as I usually get pretty good treatment. One doctor does have a pretty crabby office staff, but his nurse is always very nice on the phone and spends time answering questions.

Was your complaint brought to the superiors at the pharmacy or the doctor's office?

[Shugness]

I didn't realize there was a difference between the two. I've gotten fed up with my doctor several times and keep saying I'm going to go somewhere else - but how do I figure out where to go? It'd be nice if finding a doctor was like finding an employee - post the job, accept applications, review them, interview the applicants, check their references - honestly, that's about the only way I could ever figure out the best doctor for me. Simply looking at a yellow page ad and picking one out is a shot in the dark.

My main beef with my doctor is she doesn't keep herself education on the latest stuff coming out - example, the birth control I am on (depo) has long term side effects of bone loss and its recommended that it not be taken for more than 2 years. I freaked out over this because I had been on it for 5!! She was completely unaware of any of those side effects. It was just by chance that I found out. Another example, my IBS - she wasn't aware that probiotics were helping a ton of people with my condition or that peppermint is a natural rememdy for abdominal pain. On one hand she seems to get annoyed that I do my own research on things, but on the other I don't trust that she's as informed as she should be.

Sorry for the vent! :D

[zwieback]

Thanks for the replies. With my insurance, there are just a few more choices with one over the other. I think I'm going to try one doctor I found that is a lot closer and is in family practice. We'll see how it goes the next time I need to go.

As far as I know, the complaint was brought up to the superiors at the doctor's office. She did say that they were looking into the pharmacies as well. I highly doubt that the problem lies solely with the one pharmacy I went to mainly because of the distance between the two. I guess it's possible that all of the complaints came from people who use that one, particular pharmacy. I doubt it, though, because I think I've had to wait at different store's pharmacy as well.

[Robyn1007]

You're not going to like what I have to say but I'm going to say it anyhow. First, part of the reason why doctors don't dispense medication is so that there are checks and balances. Pharmacists expertise is in drugs, side effects, and the differences between formulations. People are not infallible, even doctors, and having extra eyes on things like medication is a good thing.

That being said, if there's an issue, which there obviously was in this case I'm a big proponent of making people aware of a problem and giving them a chance to correct it. You've been contacted twice regarding your issue by this office and they're taking steps to correct the problem. If you'd not received a response I would be concerned but why not give them a chance to correct things?

[donleyk]

I agree with Robyn. At least they are being proactive about it. It is annoying to go thru what you went thru, no doubt. It's twice as annoying when you don't feel well and have this stuff happen. And you have a valid point about the other clients. I'm sure the doctor's office doesn't want to lose you as a client and wants to know about problems like this.

Anymore it's almost impossible to have a smooth transaction, I don't care what it is.

[blazedog]

I didn't realize there was a difference between the two. I've gotten fed up with my doctor several times and keep saying I'm going to go somewhere else - but how do I figure out where to go? It'd be nice if finding a doctor was like finding an employee - post the job, accept applications, review them, interview the applicants, check their references - honestly, that's about the only way I could ever figure out the best doctor for me. Simply looking at a yellow page ad and picking one out is a shot in the dark.

My main beef with my doctor is she doesn't keep herself education on the latest stuff coming out - example, the birth control I am on (depo) has long term side effects of bone loss and its recommended that it not be taken for more than 2 years. I freaked out over this because I had been on it for 5!! She was completely unaware of any of those side effects. It was just by chance that I found out. Another example, my IBS - she wasn't aware that probiotics were helping a ton of people with my condition or that peppermint is a natural rememdy for abdominal pain. On one hand she seems to get annoyed that I do my own research on things, but on the other I don't trust that she's as informed as she should be.

Sorry for the vent! :D

I would definitely change doctors if my doctor were so completely unaware of current research.

In terms of looking for a new doctor -- aside from the obvious which would be to ask for a reference from a medical professional who you know and trust -- you can go on-line and check the background of various doctors. While it's not dispositive, the quality of the medical school; resident program; Board certification specialties; hospital affiliations can make it more than a stab in the dark.

Referrals from people can also be helpful provided the people actually know which end is up because (for example) someone could be going to your doctor and be perfectly happy with her because the she is a less knowledgeable medical consumer.

[zwieback]

I'm not saying that people can't make mistakes. I understand that. However, someone was lying to me -- either the pharmacy in telling me that they just received the fax from the doctor's office (at 3:40pm) or, the doctor's office telling me that they faxed the Rx over at 2:40 yesterday afternoon. I appreciate the pharmacy finding the mistake, but it wasn't until 40 minutes after I initially went to pick up the prescription (which was an hour after it was originally supposed to have been called in) that I even found out that there was a mistake to begin with. As far as I knew (by what I was told by the techs), the pharmacy was just beginning to fill the prescription at an hour and 40 minutes after the Rx was supposedly called in.

The doctor's office only contacted me with their "mea culpa" because I sent an email to them telling of the problem. Yes, they called me twice - once to apologize and second to tell me the issue was brought before the superiors. That's great. I'm thrilled with that. What I'm not thrilled with, however, is that I can't call and talk to someone right when I call. I have to wait for a call back. Or, I have to send an email. I'm not thrilled with only seeing an actual doctor once. I feel more like I'm bringing my car in for service rather than going to a doctor. This situation was really just the straw that broke the camel's back. I guess I'm not as forgiving and patient as others are.

[Shugness]

Referrals from people can also be helpful provided the people actually know which end is up because (for example) someone could be going to your doctor and be perfectly happy with her because the she is a less knowledgeable medical consumer.


I know what you mean - I was actually thinking about your post in the foot related topic the other week when I was typing out my initial post - I have found in the past that my friends/neighbors referrals aren't always based on what is important when looking for a doctor. Kind of the same analogy you used, these are the same people that will rave about a certain restaurant but its your typical southern food - deep fried in fat and dipped in salt. :eek:

I will say though that I've found it's much easier to find a good specialist versus a good family doctor - more so I assume because there are less of them. For example, last fall I wanted to go to a Gastroenterologist (sp?) and my city has 3 of them. I know about 5 people who have had digestive woes and asked them who they went to - 4 out of 5 recommended the doctor I ended up going to. I discounted the other persons referral because after asking her questions about her experience I wasn't satisified that the doctor she referred used the latest technology or the best technology, yet the most cost effective for him. And ultimately I was very happy with the doctor I ended up with, he was knowledgable and he's the one that gave me probiotic samples to try (that worked wonders for me!).

So when I asked friends and family who they go to for a family doctor they all have a different response because there are so many more options.

[blazedog]

I know what you mean - I was actually thinking about your post in the foot related topic the other week when I was typing out my initial post - I have found in the past that my friends/neighbors referrals aren't always based on what is important when looking for a doctor. Kind of the same analogy you used, these are the same people that will rave about a certain restaurant but its your typical southern food - deep fried in fat and dipped in salt. :eek:

I will say though that I've found it's much easier to find a good specialist versus a good family doctor - more so I assume because there are less of them. For example, last fall I wanted to go to a Gastroenterologist (sp?) and my city has 3 of them. I know about 5 people who have had digestive woes and asked them who they went to - 4 out of 5 recommended the doctor I ended up going to. I discounted the other persons referral because after asking her questions about her experience I wasn't satisified that the doctor she referred used the latest technology or the best technology, yet the most cost effective for him. And ultimately I was very happy with the doctor I ended up with, he was knowledgable and he's the one that gave me probiotic samples to try (that worked wonders for me!).

So when I asked friends and family who they go to for a family doctor they all have a different response because there are so many more options.

:D:D:D As I was writing I was thinking of the food analogy because of all the awful restaurants people have raved about and also (to a lesser extent) recipes that people have raved about -- most recently my neighbor passed on a "concoction" of beans (unrinsed from a can); ranch dressing and taco seasoning :eek:

Why don't you ask the gastroenterologist for a referral as often specialists have very good insight into who is a good physician. I got my regular dentist from a referral by an oral surgeon I was using for an implant. The one thing that could be problematic is if you were referred by a GP and then the specialist might be hesitant to potentially alienate a source of referrals.

[Robyn1007]

I'm not saying that people can't make mistakes. I understand that. However, someone was lying to me -- either the pharmacy in telling me that they just received the fax from the doctor's office (at 3:40pm) or, the doctor's office telling me that they faxed the Rx over at 2:40 yesterday afternoon. I appreciate the pharmacy finding the mistake, but it wasn't until 40 minutes after I initially went to pick up the prescription (which was an hour after it was originally supposed to have been called in) that I even found out that there was a mistake to begin with. As far as I knew (by what I was told by the techs), the pharmacy was just beginning to fill the prescription at an hour and 40 minutes after the Rx was supposedly called in.

The doctor's office only contacted me with their "mea culpa" because I sent an email to them telling of the problem. Yes, they called me twice - once to apologize and second to tell me the issue was brought before the superiors. That's great. I'm thrilled with that. What I'm not thrilled with, however, is that I can't call and talk to someone right when I call. I have to wait for a call back. Or, I have to send an email. I'm not thrilled with only seeing an actual doctor once. I feel more like I'm bringing my car in for service rather than going to a doctor. This situation was really just the straw that broke the camel's back. I guess I'm not as forgiving and patient as others are.

Well, I can see there being a technological delay with the fax, if the machine is busy most faxes will keep polling to send when the receiving fax isn't busy so the doctor's office could have sent at 2:40 and it took awhile until the pharmacy saw the fax on their end. And how do you expect the doctor's office to know there's an issue unless you let them know? I don't understand being irritated that they just didn't automatically know. :confused:

As far as the phone thing, I guess that's personal. If I have a health issue that can't wait for a call back for a couple of hours then I expect that I should be heading for urgent care or the emergency room. Leaving a message or email just doesn't bother me if it's returned promptly. But, if you don't like that then maybe it's just not the style of practice for you.

As far as the difference between general and family practice, there really isn't much but if you'd like to take your kids to your same doctor I'd choose the family practitioner.

[blazedog]

I understand your frustration but I think it's not atypical of medical care in a busy practice -- aside from not being able to see a doctor because if I wanted to see a nurse, I would make an appointment with a nurse. I'm not adverse to the concept of NP or PA's since I think they are a good use of medical resources. However, I would be PO'ed if it were foisted upon me with no explanation as to how they "ration" out the MD's time.

As to phone backs, I have almost never reached the doctor's "nurse" or personal assistant on the first attempt. Generally it's either a voice message or the receptionist will ask whether it's an emergency and the call is treated accordingly.

Again, I do understand that the faxing of the prescription was vexing but I wouldn't have an expectation that a prescription would be faxed immediately. I would assume that the prescription winds its way through a system so even a 40 minute lag time wouldn't shock me. If I absolutely positively needed to pick it up within a short time frame, I would probably make a special request of the doctor and also call the pharmacy to see if the prescription had arrived.

[Shugness]

Why don't you ask the gastroenterologist for a referral as often specialists have very good insight into who is a good physician. I got my regular dentist from a referral by an oral surgeon I was using for an implant. The one thing that could be problematic is if you were referred by a GP and then the specialist might be hesitant to potentially alienate a source of referrals.

That's a really good idea actually, I haven't thought to ask him but he will probably be my best bet - I was very satisified with him and he is likely to recommend someone that has the same approach to medicine as he does. And since Dr. G is going to be in my life till death then it'd be nice if my family doctor and him had a good relationshiop with one another. Not that I don't think he likes my doctor, I have no way of knowing, but you know what I'm saying. Thanks!!

[zwieback]

I know I'm not expressing things how I want to, but I was just thinking about this whole thing and I'm curious as to how the pharmacy even knew the Rx should have been for eye drops and not ear drops in the first place? I'm frustrated because the doctor's office should realize and be very vigilant about what medications they are prescribing. Many meds are used for various ailments. I've never had a prescription that stated the antibiotic is being used for strep throat. If the pharmacy received a Rx for ear drops, how do they know I went to the Dr. for an eye problem rather than an ear problem??

Like I said, it's just the straw.... As for calling and waiting for a return call, I don't mind that as long as it happens once in a while. I just can't stand it every single time. I have things I need to do, regardless of me being sick or having a health issue. Sometimes, no, I can't wait for the call back because I have kids and have other things I need to get done. Once in a while, yes, I understand the call back. Every single time?? Nope. Sorry. Not very good customer service if you ask me.

[Robyn1007]

I know I'm not expressing things how I want to, but I was just thinking about this whole thing and I'm curious as to how the pharmacy even knew the Rx should have been for eye drops and not ear drops in the first place? I'm frustrated because the doctor's office should realize and be very vigilant about what medications they are prescribing. Many meds are used for various ailments. I've never had a prescription that stated the antibiotic is being used for strep throat. If the pharmacy received a Rx for ear drops, how do they know I went to the Dr. for an eye problem rather than an ear problem??


Well, if the direction associated with the prescription said to put the drops in the eye but the actual drops listed were for ears that would probably give it away. Any eye or ear drops I've had always have a direction like "Put 2 drops in right eye 4 times per day" so if that was the direction on the script it would be the tip off.

Obviously, their style of practice just doesn't mesh with what you want. I don't think it's a blanket failing of customer service as it allows them to address in office customers without have to go for the phone constantly but we all function with different expectations of acceptable customer service and that's okay. I'm sure there's a doctors office there that would work better for you. If you can't get a direct referral from someone you know I would call the office your thinking of and find out if they do a sort of interview appointment for you to meet the doc and see if they work for you.

[Gumbeaux]

I always have problems with prescriptions and that is the reason I ask my doctor for free samples.

Last week my doctor prescribed Vesicare to me and I asked him if he had a few free samples to give to me until the prescription could be filled. He gave me two weeks of samples but said for me not to worry that Vesicare was common and that the pharmacy would have it. After I dropped the prescription off I went home and checked the pharmacy website and read that they were out. :( Good thing I got the samples. :)

I realize that a doctor may not have samples of eye drop medication but it doesn't hurt to ask.

[karen w]

As an MD myself, I just want to straighten out a bit of misinformation here. A Family practice doctor and a general practitioner are 2 different names for the same kind of physician vs. a doctor who is an internal medicine specialist. The primary difference being that the internists primary area of expertise and training is internal medicine. . . which granted is a very wide scope of study. That is why many internists specialize in one particular area, for example, the nephrologist looks at the kidneys/urinary tract, dermatologist the skin, cardiologist the heart etc... A family practice doctor's training is even more broad and includes such areas as gyn/ob, surgery(sometimes), pediatrics, etc... These are often the doctors you find in smaller communities where there is not a huge selection of specialist for everything so the community needs physicians that can treat it all if need be. BOTH family practice doctors and internists are M.D.'s who have completed their own residencies and have the opportunity to take their own set of board exams. Just check to make sure that your doctor has actually passed the exam and is certified as any doctor can practice medicine without board certification. Most hospitals these days don't allow non certified physicians priveledges, however.

Anyway, sorry you had to go through all that. Hope you find the right doc.

Karen

[wallycat]

Sorry you had to deal with this as well.
Most pharmacies want the doc to phone it in, but if I go, I have it written out so I can fill it when and where I want.
Of course, my tamoxifen is 3 month supply at a time and I am resigned to the pharmacy plan my insurance has....but I always plan ahead.
My acne stuff I walk over.

I hope your eyes are OK and your issue is resolved.