Posted by AnneL on January 6, 2004, at 21:42:53
In reply to Re: Warning - Family Physician, posted by stjames on January 6, 2004, at 20:22:06
Interesting question. . . There are many arguments that would support this idea. St. James brings up many good points that support the theory that psychiatrists have the extra training and time that is necessary in order to diagnose and treat mental illness. My concern is for those patients whose access to any type of care is limited. Healthcare practitioners of all types and specialties are practicing outside of their training and specialty due to declining resources. In many communities and locales it is simply not economically feasible to refer a patient to a psychiatrist for initial diagnosis and Rx. What does the family practitioner do then? My family practitioner was far more brilliant than the 3 HMO pdocs I saw. Training and education are essential and so is intelligence, compassion and a willingness to go the extra mile - no matter what the specialty is.
This is really about healthcare reform and for the sake of maintaining protocol, we can take this issue to another board. :) Anne
poster:AnneL
thread:296715
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040105/msgs/297416.html