Pet Peeves About the State of Primary Care – Part 2

• The stress of being witness to a dysfunctional system

It is really hard to see the hurt and difficulty our patients go through on a daily basis while trying to navigate a broken system. We bear witness to them and listen to all the stories when things have gone wrong. This also takes its toll on us, as we are part of the system, and our patients’ frustrations sometimes boil over. We are also the ones who care for the whole patient, so every bad experience with a specialty clinic is shared with us.

Many thanks extended to those who wrote to share their ideas (Drs. Sylvia Androne, Bhawna Bahethi, Pierre Ghassibi, Richard Katz, Louis Kasunic, Rebecca Keenan, David Kosnosky, Gregory Miller, and James Wilkens).

Dr. Paauw is professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, and he serves as third-year medical student clerkship director at the University of Washington, Seattle. Contact Dr. Paauw at dpaauw@uw.edu.
 

References

1. Forbes.com. Why Primary Care Matters, and What We Can Do To Increase It. 2023 Nov 27.

2. Washingtonpost.com. A Health Care Solution We Can’t Afford to Ignore: Primary Care.