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> In my experience, the quality of doctor was incredibly low, Hmmm... never would have guessed that. In my experience, the One Medical doctor that my wife an

> In my experience, the quality of doctor was incredibly low, Hmmm... never would have guessed that. In my experience, the One Medical doctor that my wife and child see is excellent. I've met him and think he is great. A colleague is also extremely pleased with her One Medical doctor. Maybe you just had bad luck with your doctor selection? I don't mean to invalidate your experience, but it certainly varies from my experience.

Godel_unicode 7y ago
I'm always really curious what people mean when they say a doctor is "great". Is this just biases about smiling and seemingly having it together, or are there medical aspects to the greatness which set them apart as doctors? How does an average person know if your doctor is, in fact, doing a good job?
- meddlepal 7y ago
  Thanks for asking this question... I was just about to ask this and then I got distracted before coming back. As an engineer I have no idea how to actually qualify whether my doctor is good or not. I _like_ my doctor, he's a personable enough guy, and perhaps I trust him because he hasn't harmed me yet, but I also have no idea if he is any good. The worst graduate in a medical class is still a Doctor somewhere... This is probably the same feeling business guys have about engineers...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- damnyou 7y ago
  The most important thing to me is an understanding that the patient is in charge of their health and the doctor's just there to support the patient. For example, if a patient is already on meds from an online pharmacy, the doctor (after ensuring that the patient isnt causing grave harm to themselves) should be willing to write a prescription for those meds.
  - epmaybe 7y ago
    At the same time, I think it is unethical for a doctor to continue prescribing medications that they do not believe you actually need based on your current health. To them/me, it would be malpractice. If you were on an antibiotic for strep throat, finished your course, and then asked your doctor for more of it without any symptoms, should they prescribe it again? You wouldn't cause grave harm (unless the aggregate risk of super resistant bacteria counts). All of this shouldn't be conflated with patient centered care, though. I too agree that the patient should be in charge and the doctor should be there to support. But it shouldn't mean that doctors have to do whatever the patient asks of them.
    - damnyou 7y ago
      Of course, antibiotics are special because of their externalities. I'm taking about stuff like modafinil, for example.
- mantap 7y ago
  A good doctor is one who pays attention. I've met my fair share of bad doctors who are overworked and just are not paying attention to what they are doing. Then they end up making mistakes, such as misdiagnosing a condition, prescribing the wrong medication, etc. It's hard for the average person to know if their doctor is doing a good job until something goes wrong and it's too late. My doctor now is excellent, he's excellent because he actually listens to what I'm saying. That doesn't mean he always agrees with me, I would hope he doesn't! But at least he is paying attention. Many other doctors seem to go into a keyword search mode when listening to patients. It's the difference between reading a page thoroughly and skim reading it.
  - utopian3 7y ago
    Same. I have a GP who takes 40-60 minutes per patient, and gets into detail of what’s going on. I felt he truly cared. Compare that to the ~5-10 minutes of my previous GP
- hnmullany 7y ago
  Well my one medical doctor missed an important part of a medical test. I had to point out that he had missed it.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
totalthrowaway 7y ago
In my experience, they are often young and at the beginning of their career. They are still medical doctors, not to take anything away from them, but I mostly rely on them for referrals to specialists as needed. One Medical removes some friction from the overall system, which as a non-American I find incredibly frustrating.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  Fwiw some studies show that young doctors have better outcomes. Maybe because they have been to medical school more recently, when evidence based techniques were taught with more rigor. E.g. https://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j2286 https://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j2286. Now this study only concerns hospitalists, and it's just one study, so it shouldn't make you avoid older doctors necessarily. But definitely what there is no data for is a bias against younger doctors.
Nuzzerino 7y ago
I've had 4 different doctors from One Medical. One of them was pretty good but I wouldn't recommend the other three. However the email access and online scheduling makes up for it. And office staff is actually not brain dead like I've see elsewhere.

Godel_unicode 7y ago

I'm always really curious what people mean when they say a doctor is "great". Is this just biases about smiling and seemingly having it together, or are there medical aspects to the greatness which set them apart as doctors? How does an average person know if your doctor is, in fact, doing a good job?

meddlepal 7y ago
Thanks for asking this question... I was just about to ask this and then I got distracted before coming back. As an engineer I have no idea how to actually qualify whether my doctor is good or not. I _like_ my doctor, he's a personable enough guy, and perhaps I trust him because he hasn't harmed me yet, but I also have no idea if he is any good. The worst graduate in a medical class is still a Doctor somewhere... This is probably the same feeling business guys have about engineers...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
damnyou 7y ago
The most important thing to me is an understanding that the patient is in charge of their health and the doctor's just there to support the patient. For example, if a patient is already on meds from an online pharmacy, the doctor (after ensuring that the patient isnt causing grave harm to themselves) should be willing to write a prescription for those meds.
- epmaybe 7y ago
  At the same time, I think it is unethical for a doctor to continue prescribing medications that they do not believe you actually need based on your current health. To them/me, it would be malpractice. If you were on an antibiotic for strep throat, finished your course, and then asked your doctor for more of it without any symptoms, should they prescribe it again? You wouldn't cause grave harm (unless the aggregate risk of super resistant bacteria counts). All of this shouldn't be conflated with patient centered care, though. I too agree that the patient should be in charge and the doctor should be there to support. But it shouldn't mean that doctors have to do whatever the patient asks of them.
  - damnyou 7y ago
    Of course, antibiotics are special because of their externalities. I'm taking about stuff like modafinil, for example.
mantap 7y ago
A good doctor is one who pays attention. I've met my fair share of bad doctors who are overworked and just are not paying attention to what they are doing. Then they end up making mistakes, such as misdiagnosing a condition, prescribing the wrong medication, etc. It's hard for the average person to know if their doctor is doing a good job until something goes wrong and it's too late. My doctor now is excellent, he's excellent because he actually listens to what I'm saying. That doesn't mean he always agrees with me, I would hope he doesn't! But at least he is paying attention. Many other doctors seem to go into a keyword search mode when listening to patients. It's the difference between reading a page thoroughly and skim reading it.
- utopian3 7y ago
  Same. I have a GP who takes 40-60 minutes per patient, and gets into detail of what’s going on. I felt he truly cared. Compare that to the ~5-10 minutes of my previous GP
hnmullany 7y ago
Well my one medical doctor missed an important part of a medical test. I had to point out that he had missed it.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

totalthrowaway 7y ago

In my experience, they are often young and at the beginning of their career. They are still medical doctors, not to take anything away from them, but I mostly rely on them for referrals to specialists as needed. One Medical removes some friction from the overall system, which as a non-American I find incredibly frustrating.

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
Fwiw some studies show that young doctors have better outcomes. Maybe because they have been to medical school more recently, when evidence based techniques were taught with more rigor. E.g. https://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j2286 https://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j2286. Now this study only concerns hospitalists, and it's just one study, so it shouldn't make you avoid older doctors necessarily. But definitely what there is no data for is a bias against younger doctors.

Nuzzerino 7y ago

I've had 4 different doctors from One Medical. One of them was pretty good but I wouldn't recommend the other three. However the email access and online scheduling makes up for it. And office staff is actually not brain dead like I've see elsewhere.