4 ms·

I replied to this comment elsewhere: Family doctors are not likely to be treating a semi-rare condition. To put it in programming terms, a front-end web devel

I replied to this comment elsewhere: Family doctors are not likely to be treating a semi-rare condition. To put it in programming terms, a front-end web developer would seek advice from a networking expert if her or his application was experiencing a lot of networking difficulties. Further, even if your family physician is monitoring the progress of your disease, you'll likely also be seeing a specialist who will also be monitoring the progress of your disease.

brandonmenc 11y ago
> Family doctors are not likely to be treating a semi-rare condition. Really? I have family members with rare conditions - for example diverticul(it/os)is, which affects 0.74% of the population - and they don't see specialists. The family physician monitors it. And this is with a "Cadillac" insurance plan. I don't think every rare condition automatically gets you in with a specialist.
- ejstronge 11y ago
  It likely sounds like a rare condition for you and your family members but that particular example happens to be something regularly discussed in first year medical school courses. See [1] for a discussion of how common this is. Also consider that a family practitioner might easily have 2,000 patients. Thus, she or he will likely have direct experience with diverticulitis. Further (and this is more inside baseball), your family members would need to be admitted to a hospital if their disease worsens to the point that a standard course of antibiotics won't help. There might be better examples of 'rare' conditions than this, but the point stands - for any condition where extensive domain knowledge is required, you'll have a specialist involved. Incidentally, diverticulitis is a very American disorder, likely attributable to our eating habits. You and all other readers should be sure to include fiber in your diet. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2780269/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2780269/
  - brandonmenc 11y ago
    > Incidentally, diverticulitis is a very American disorder, likely attributable to our eating habits. You and all other readers should be sure to include fiber in your diet. The family member in question has eaten a near total vegetarian diet for most of their life, so fiber intake is not the problem in this case.

brandonmenc 11y ago

> Family doctors are not likely to be treating a semi-rare condition. Really? I have family members with rare conditions - for example diverticul(it/os)is, which affects 0.74% of the population - and they don't see specialists. The family physician monitors it. And this is with a "Cadillac" insurance plan. I don't think every rare condition automatically gets you in with a specialist.

ejstronge 11y ago
It likely sounds like a rare condition for you and your family members but that particular example happens to be something regularly discussed in first year medical school courses. See [1] for a discussion of how common this is. Also consider that a family practitioner might easily have 2,000 patients. Thus, she or he will likely have direct experience with diverticulitis. Further (and this is more inside baseball), your family members would need to be admitted to a hospital if their disease worsens to the point that a standard course of antibiotics won't help. There might be better examples of 'rare' conditions than this, but the point stands - for any condition where extensive domain knowledge is required, you'll have a specialist involved. Incidentally, diverticulitis is a very American disorder, likely attributable to our eating habits. You and all other readers should be sure to include fiber in your diet. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2780269/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2780269/
- brandonmenc 11y ago
  > Incidentally, diverticulitis is a very American disorder, likely attributable to our eating habits. You and all other readers should be sure to include fiber in your diet. The family member in question has eaten a near total vegetarian diet for most of their life, so fiber intake is not the problem in this case.