Abingdon Primary Care Center (2024)

FAQs

Why is it so challenging to find a primary care physician? ›

Shortage of Primary Care Physicians

This shortage is attributed to various factors including an aging population (both patients and doctors are getting old), a growing emphasis on specialized medicine which draws physicians away from primary care, and fewer medical graduates choosing primary care as a field.

The 2018 Survey of AMERICA'S PHYSICIANS Practice Patterns & Perspectives – the Physicians Foundation, a research study involving 8,774 physicians, found that those physicians responding to the survey “see an average of 20.2 patients per day, down from 20.6 in 2016, but up from 19.5 in 2014 and 20.1 in 2012.” The survey ...

Most PCPs reported that primary care of complex patients was moderately or extremely stressful, and PCPs reporting the greatest stress were more likely to identify the contribution of patients' social or financial issues rather than medical or behavioral problems as major management challenges.

Primary care is based on caring for people rather than specific diseases. This means that professionals working in general practice are generalists, dealing with a broad range of physical, psychological and social problems, rather than specialists in a particular disease area.

One of the main reasons healthcare workers are quitting their jobs is burnout. Long hours, high stress, and low pay have taken a toll on doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

A wave of retirements, growing patient demand, and changing patterns of well visits are behind the crunch. Dr. Chris Garofalo said his patients often have trouble getting in to see specialists and then return to primary care to get their needs addressed more urgently, crowding out others.

So the average primary care physician may not have many “medically interesting” patients, but they probably do have many complex patients. I would argue that if any practice has a significant amount of patients over the age of fifty, then seeing more than about twenty-five to thirty patients a day is irresponsible.

The median physician in the sample spent a mean of 18.9 minutes with each patient (Figure 1). Physicians in the top quartile of visit length spent a mean of 24.6 minutes or longer with their patients, while physicians in the bottom quartile of visit length spent a mean of 14.1 minutes or less with their patients.

Patient visits are changing amid new trends and challenges in healthcare. In the past decade, nearly every physician switched to electronic health records. Digital documentation has led to new workflows that affect the patient encounter. The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in telehealth.

Internal medicine doctors

Why choose an internal medicine doctor for primary care? Internal medicine doctors are experts at balancing an adult's regular preventive care needs with specialized care needs. They are well versed in conditions that can pop up in adulthood, like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

What is the disadvantage of primary care? ›

Disadvantages of the Primary Nursing Care Model

There is a greater risk of primary care nurses developing emotional involvement with the patient, which can lead to increased stress. Quality of care depends on the nurses' qualifications, which raises questions regarding the equity of care.

While physicians with decades of experience offer invaluable perspective to the practice of medicine, some studies show that younger physicians are more likely to meet certain key competencies compared with older physicians, partially due to their proximity to residency and training, which can result in better patient ...

Researchers at the journal Health Affairs found that patients who have a primary care provider benefit from better management of chronic diseases, lower overall health-care costs and a higher level of satisfaction with their care.

Aim of Primary Care

The main purpose of primary care is to improve the health of the public by providing easy access to medical care. It also focuses on the whole individual rather than on the illness of a specific organ, system or disease.

The four primary care (PC) core functions (the '4Cs', ie, first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination and continuity) are essential for good quality primary healthcare and their achievement leads to lower costs, less inequality and better population health.

The Breaking Points in our Healthcare System That Makes Finding A Good Doctor So Hard. Doctors don't have time for, and have no interest in, treating the whole person. The medical system doesn't know what to do when patients don't fit into a known diagnosis. There's no communication between doctors.

Demographics — specifically, population growth and aging — continue to be the primary drivers for increasing the need for more doctors to meet the health care needs of tomorrow.

And the Affordable Care Act gave more of us the financial means to actually see a doctor. On the other side, supply isn't growing fast enough to keep up with demand, and not enough doctors are going into the areas where we need them the most. This is particularly and painfully true when it comes to primary care.

Past Bad Experiences - Many people have experienced a medical trauma, a difficult procedure, a poor outcome, or a negative reaction from care providers for themselves or a loved one. These past negative experiences often create a psychological barrier to care.