Your thoughts on Family Doctors

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Viv,
I appreciate that in this highly corporatized age that none of us get to "do the job" we are trained to do because liability, paperwork, "efficiency" experts, etc. take precedence over practicing our professions. I beleive that most Docs do the best they can under rough conditions. I do the best I can under a hectic lifestyle also mandated by employers who don't care about my issues. All I am saying is that all the personal research in the world means nothing in the face of modern life's daily demands. I pray that I never have a diving medicine issue that is serious enough to force me off my plan & schedule. My job (as demanding & inflexible as it is) is the only way I get money to dive. But thank you for telling your side.:)
 
:wink:

I guess we're all just doing the best we can. If I come up with any solutions you will all certainly be the first to know!
 
Any doctor I want, any time. No HMOs, no waiting in the ER until the credit checks out.....

Anyway, my GP has gone to great lengths to be medically aware of my diving. He has done alot of his own research, he got some direction from an ENT specialist on how to monitor my ears and he calls the drug manufactures and DAN to check on the effects of depth and higher O2PP on meds.

So don't write them all off - there are some great GPs out there.
 
My current GP is the best doctor I have had in my life. Although I have almost no choice in providers due to my insurance situation, and she too is plagued with the problems experienced by MDs/DOs in an HMO type system, I am one of the lucky few to have ended up with a fantastic doctor for my care. As great as she is, though, she has little knowledge of diving-specific medicine, and I doubt that she has the time to research it much on her own given the number of patients she has to care for.

It seems to me that as an avid diver, I ought to be able to have access to a diving doctor. While my HMO doesn't cover it, I have subscribed to DAN's diving insurance program, which should take care of the cost of treatment services from a diving doctor, but only AFTER a diving-related injury.

What I would like to see is the diving insurance providers (DAN, PADI, etc.) be willing to cover the cost of visits to doctors trained in diving medicine for physicals and evaluations of my fitness for diving BEFORE I dive. It seems to me that by doing this the insurance providers might even save some money (although I certainly don't have the figures to know for sure) because it might prevent costly diving injuries which they'd have to cover by identifying conditions that contraindicate diving which might be missed by non diving trained GPs before the patient dives and gets injured.

otter-cat

:)
 
I really like the idea Otter-Cat put out there. How about a list of hyperbarically savvy docs to start? Some of us may even be surprised to find a knowledgeble local doc who JUST HAPPENS to be on our plan!!! Knowledge is power. If instructors even had a DAN list of these physicians, they could give it to OW students to give them the option as they enter the class to try checking in with a diving doctor. I take continuing education in diving all the time & never seem to stop needing diving physicals just for eligibility. I would love to know if the perfect doc is just one name down from the guy in "the book" who I was about to call.

-art.chick
 
is probably not what most US insurance companies have in mind.
:wink:

I think plans also need to recognise that more "average people" are participating in "non-traditional activities" like scuba diving, rock climbing, etc. and that they need to make provisions for this (maybe a low cost addition to the basic plan?)

DAN does have a physician referal program. Unfortunately, the list is not searchable on line - you have to contact they for the referal.
http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/physicians.asp

Diving Medicine Online also has a list:
http://scuba-doc.com/listchmbr.htm
 
As a (British) GP can I offer my tuppence worth? This is a copy of my post on a related thread.

The concepts of medical fitness to dive (as a risk assessment) and the highly specialist skills of a diving physician (giving specialist advice and/or treatment) are two entirely separate things.

In the UK we still (just) have family doctors who at least have access to a record of our patients' illnesses and treatments. I can say will utter confidence that most GPs will know when an applicant's medical fitness is doubtful and when to refer to a specialist.

On the other hand he will also know when an applicant is medically fit.


Viv said elwhere

Art.chick, I certainly "feel your pain." Managed care/HMO's can make all of us crazy. Let me tell you what it feels like from this side of the stethescope. This afternoon when I walk into my office I will probably be faced with a waiting-room full of people who are all in a hurry because they squeezed their visit in on their lunch break. I have never seen most of them before and may never see most of them again - they just picked me out of "the HMO book" because they need something right away (i.e.an overdue medication refill, note for work, diving physical form completed ). I went into medicine because I thought I was going to establish long term relationships with patients and assist them in maintaining good health. Due to the economics of healthcare here in the States I feel like I am working in McDonalds!! Believe me most docs are just as unhappy with this situation as you are.

That sounds awful but I see this impersonal, production-line over here too. I can also understand John's concerns but what he describes is the deliberate deskilling of doctors. I am an immediate care doctor, trained in ACLS, ATLS etc but as a self-employed GP I am not welcome at RTAs etc. and yet I am required to spend an increasing amount of my time dealing with paperwork and trivia. It is a turf war. (Life is cheap so why should trusts pay for expensive doctors when a cheap-and- cheerful ambulanceman will do - in the UK our "paramedics" get all of six weeks training).

I am certain society will regret the passing of the traditional (family) physician. Someone has to do the routine, minor stuff or we have the situation where the specialists will be seeing all manner of conditions outside their speciality, to say nothing of the doctor's role as his patient's advocate!

Sadly, as I say, life is cheap and society is run by insurance companies.


Dr Vikingo said

I'm not sure that I can agree with the statement, "Then I discovered it was self certification in any case and up to the individual diver whether or not to disclose."

I don't know about Scotland, but most major training agencies in the US & greater Caribbean will query the applicant about medical history before accepting them. Additionally, many dive ops around the world will ask one to sign a medical release form prior to taking them out. In both instances, these often ask questions about medications & psychiatric illness.

I agree. In changing the medical system to self-certification I believe the BSAC has thrown the baby out with the bathwater. In my professional opinion the certificate is not worth the paper it is written on. It bypasses the one person all life insurance companies use - the GP!

Human nature being what it is, not all are sensible and mature.
 
Too damn many Administration Majors in the colleges back then. If we were not all too overworked trying to keep them off our backs, I'd say we advertise: "Extremely expensive Dive trip to exclusive & secret destination for Administrators only." Then when we have them where we want them, we send them on a low viz night dive by a storm drain with a tank full of laughing gas.
 
I just went to the site listed by UP in the previous post, and I thought I'd add that it is a great site to check out, even if you don't live in the PNW. It has a bunch of good info on various aspects of diving medicine, and links to a bunch more good stuff. Thanks, UP!

otter-cat
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom