by admin-blog-kh | July 24, 2021 4:10 am
Till a few decades back, every family had a family doctor or a family physician[1]. The concept was quite common both in cities and smaller towns across India. However, with the economic liberalization in the 90s and the job boom that followed, people started migrating within India in search of green pastures. This was followed by the Internet boom, which made it easy to locate physicians closer home at the click of a button.
The mobility revolution further accelerated this trend. Today, one can get a consultation, prescriptions, door delivery of medicines, and details about the ailment, all on the smartphone. As a result of all this, many people have moved away from the practice of having a family physician, believing the concept is outdated. However, the reality needs to be far from this. A family physician brings innumerable advantages to the patient and his/her family. For the purpose of this article, we will cover the top 5 only.
Lifecycle Management is a popular concept today in software and other industries. But the inspiration comes from healthcare[2]. Family physicians who treat a person right from childhood through adolescence, and then adulthood are intimately familiar with the person’s medical history. They know allergies, injuries, challenges faced in the past, and how they may map to the present symptoms and conditions.
The familiarity and comfort level also makes it easy for the patient to discuss confidential aspects of his/her health with the family physician. The family physician may also treat the patient as a part of his/her family and advise for or against certain medication or therapies to be pursued. The family physician may also create a routine for health checkups and help you follow the same with timely reminders. As the person reaches middle age, the family physician will even advise screenings for specific diseases at the right time.
Many conditions, ailments, diseases, or syndromes are genetic; they are inherited from a close blood relative. So the risk of developing a particular condition increases when a blood relative has that condition. Such information is generally shared with the family doctor. Hence, he/she knows if one of the parents or an uncle or aunt has or had a particular condition. Accordingly, he/she can advise the patient on steps to reduce the risk of being affected by this condition. This is called genetic counselling and is used today to screen people for cancer.
In countries, where Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) of patients are stored and shared across doctors, the information about genetically inheritable conditions and relatives with that condition is also stored. This makes it easy while providing treatment for the same or any other condition related to it. In India, EMRs are still rare, so family physicians make a note in the patient’s file about such details.
Family physicians also know other challenges the family may be facing, such as a job loss to one of the parents, a recent divorce, etc. This helps counselling or screening the children for stress, anxiety, and psychological conditions.
There is a wrong notion that family physicians, who are general physicians by qualification, are only useful for treating common cold, cough, fever, and mild infections. This is not true. General physicians or family physicians in some countries go through a 3-year program after graduation, which includes a wide range of medical studies such as internal medicine, pediatrics[4], obstetrics and gynecology[5], neurology[6], surgery, psychiatry[7], and community medicine.
In the process, he/she can cover a wide range of requirements such as immunizations, minor surgical processes, and handle serious conditions such as diabetes[8], arthritis, heart disease[9], chronic pain etc. This way, the family physician is able to provide ‘holistic care’ and not be relegated to primary care as most people think. Sample this:
Serious health conditions, once suspected, will require specialists to conduct more tests to diagnose the condition, and once confirmed a clear treatment plan. Identifying the right specialist[10] can be a challenge. While the Internet can provide names, addresses, visitation schedules, appointment booking, and reviews on the specialists, that is not enough. Once the appointment is scheduled, depending on how busy the specialist is, he/she may not go through a full discovery session about the patient’s and family’s medical history. Incomplete information can lead to misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment leading to undesirable outcomes.
This is where a family physician comes in. Given that doctors are a well-networked community; the family physician can direct you to the best-fit specialist. Further, since he/she knows the patient like a family member would do, it’s easy for him/her to share relevant medical details of the patient to the specialist using the right medico-technical language. This goes a long way in reducing the time to diagnose and time to treat.
Various studies have been conducted outside India on what is the value-add brought by a family physician. It’s found that family doctors can save lives by making the right recommendations and in the process, save a lot of money and hassle too. Having a family physician means reduced hospitalization, less duplication of work, better access to specialized healthcare, and coordinated patient care.
A study conducted by a medical insurance company in Rhode Island showed that a 23% increase in primary care spending resulted in an 18% reduction in overall healthcare spending.
A national survey data conducted in the US showed that family physicians provide more cost-effective healthcare than other primary-care physicians. As per the survey, for every 10,000 people that consult a family doctor[11] instead of other primary-care physicians, hospital admissions were reduced by 5.5 percent, while ER[12] (emergency room) visits and surgeries were reduced by 11 percent.
It’s obvious from the above that having a family physician has both short-term and long-term benefits. If you would like to have a family physician for your family, consult a reputed hospital[13]. They will direct you to such physicians who are on their rolls or part of their network.
Kauvery Hospital is globally known for its multidisciplinary services at all its Centers of Excellence, and for its comprehensive, Avant-Grade technology, especially in diagnostics and remedial care in heart diseases, transplantation, vascular and neurosciences medicine. Located in the heart of Trichy (Tennur, Royal Road and Alexandria Road (Cantonment), Chennai, Hosur, Salem, Tirunelveli and Bengaluru, the hospital also renders adult and pediatric trauma care.
Chennai – 044 4000 6000 • Trichy – Cantonment – 0431 4077777 • Trichy – Heartcity – 0431 4003500 • Trichy – Tennur – 0431 4022555 • Hosur – 04344 272727 • Salem – 0427 2677777 • Tirunelveli – 0462 4006000 • Bengaluru – 080 6801 6801
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