Do Family Medicine Doctors Have the Same Results as Specialists - Essay Example

Do Family Medicine Doctors Have The Same Results As Specialists For Diabetic Patients? Introduction Diabetes is categorized as a chronic illness which relatively requires continuing medical care. Proper medical care should be done in addition to extensive patient self-management education that is essential, primarily in prevention of acute complication (Egede and Simpson 2). Proper health care for diabetic patient is the only therapy and a supplement to medication, which also works well in preventing long term complications and risks (Egede and Simpson 2). It should be noted that care given to diabetic patients should be a collective intervention of both the family members and medical service providers. This paper will elaborately answer the question as to whether there is a significance difference in the care provided to diabetic patients by a family physician or medical specialist. Discussion It should be noted that primary doctors who are normally found in the hospital as their work station are always busy. This is because their main duty is normally fixed within the hospital and they have a wider obligation of attending to all visiting patients (Rubin 1). For diabetes patients, standard care needs to be carried out by a diabetic team. The team is comprised of the patient who is diabetic, a primary care doctor, a dietitian, endocrinologist, eye specialist, podiatrist, nurse educator and an exercise trainer (Rubin 1). This is the standard team for diabetic care as recommended and each member has got an important role to paly on cases related with acute or chronic diabetic complication (Rubin 1). However, due to limited staffing and insufficient professional man power, many hospitals fail to implement this recommendation, thus compromising the standard diabetic care. It is for this reason that many patients prefer hiring personal family physicians to assist in care management for their diabetic patients (Rubin 1). Diagnosis and treatment of diabetic patients may relatively follow the same procedure when conducted by either family physician, an endocrinologist or specialists (Olson 5). The difference will be the way the medical specialist is engaging with the patient. It is important to note that as a primary doctor, the workload is usually packed, because they keep on seeing patients after patients (Olson 5). Under this circumstance, most hospitals usually receive many patients with different kinds of complications. The fact is that 80-85 percent of patients taken to primary doctors can be attended to by clinical officers and even nurses (Olson 5). This is to show that no matter how much the doctor may try to employ patient-centric evidence based care, the service cannot effectively benefit large numbers of patients arriving (Olson 5). With this kind of treatment background, it may be hard to expect proper health care offered by the same doctor to a diabetic patient. For this reason, many people prefer engagement with an independent family physician for proper effective medical care services. The private family physician is never different with the primary doctor at the hospital in terms of knowledge and experience. The medical training they all underwent is relatively same and most probably they might have worked together as primary doctors. The difference is that family specialists are normally driven by fee-for service medical care (Ciechanowski and Russo 10). This is where the doctor is paid based on the work done. Good salary payment plus other additional incentives that the family doctor is given are enough key motivating factors and commitment to deliver the best to the patient expectation (Ciechanowski and Russo 10). It should be noted that health care services offered by family specialists are much expensive than primary services offered in hospitals. Notable to mention is that family specialists also prefer using more advanced medical test kits and facilities that guarantee accuracy in every test conducted (Ciechanowski and Russo 10). For him, quality work is the foundation of service. This is to mean that the family doctor is always ready to work and deliver due to the bargaining power of incentive awarded (Noek 3). In addition to the statement, diabetic care is very significant when it is incorporated together with psychological awareness. It should be noted that psychological factors are vital and play an important role as far as diabetic care is concerned. Most endocrinologists or hospital physicians may perform correct diagnosis and prescription for the diabetic patient just like the family physician; but may lack time for follow-up on psychological motivation to diabetic patients (Welch 1). Diabetes is known to be accompanied with emotional distress that can cause diabetic care burnout (Welch 1). It has been revealed that diabetes patients suffer depression twice much higher than other patients with other chronic conditions (Peyrot, Rubin and Siminerion 2). It is therefore prudent that in addition to medication, there should be a session for psychological healing between the doctor and the patient (Peyrot et al 2). This is the area where most family physicians are preferred much than the other specialists. With one or few patients to take care of, the family doctor will always be there to offer emotional support, monitor self care practice by the patient, and provide medical advice to the patient (Peyrot et al 2). In a study conducted by a team from Thomas Jefferson University and Italian researchers on Italian diabetic patient care, it was revealed that doctors who are empathetic tend to stimulate more positive clinical outcomes than those who are not (Graff 1).The research study which was published in the year 2012 concluded that more clinical complications and negativity of diabetic patients cannot be treated using drugs, but can be taken care of by attitude and empathy of the doctor (Graff 2). The researchers also revealed that empathetic physician-patient relationship is vital, most precisely when influencing positive perception and attitude on the patient (Graff 2). This is something all doctors cannot offer to diabetic patients. Most primary doctors are usually too busy and working faster to ensure that they beat time and attend to all patients (Graff 5). Contrary, a family physician is the one in a position to employ all these strategies to his patients and that is why they are mostly considered the best when it comes to medical care provision (Graff 5). It is wrong to conclude that specialists care does not produce better outcomes for diabetic patients. Better adherence and continuation to medication given does not lower the diabetic risk behavior (Black and Ray 2). There are many people who are diabetic and they depend on hospital specialists for treatment and care. However, due to work load and duties imposed on most hospital specialists, family doctors are considered better since in addition to medication, they have time for psychological assessment and regular follow-up (Black and Ray 2). This is very important to diabetic patients since treating alone is never enough. There should be physical regular follow-up to ensure the guidelines and self management by the patient is up to the recommended level (Black and Ray 2). The family doctor is also in a position to assess patient’s psychological problems prevalence and how they affect their way of life (Peyrot et al 2). These additional duties are properly carried out by the family physician, since the incentive motivation granted is much higher. Furthermore, family doctors are also in a position to provide on-site psychological skills to the patient in addition to support wherever required (Peyrot et al 2). This according to Thomas Jefferson University researchers has a bigger positive contribution towards expected clinical outcomes by the patient (Peyrot et al 2). Conclusion In summary, it is important to document that all doctors are the same by the fact that they went through similar professional training. Based on the above discussion, the main difference between a family physician and specialist is the time consumed while engaging with the diabetic patient. Most specialists have no much time to engage deeper with their patients while a family physician has all the time to be with the patient. This much time helps the family doctor to explore best strategies to use in diagnosis and treatment of their patient. In return, the family doctor is also paid relatively higher, and this is the motivation for better services. Works Cited Black, Markides, and Ray Lawrence. “Depression predicts increased incidence of adverse health outcomes in older Mexican Americans with type 2 diabetes.” Diabetes Care 26 (2003): 2822–2828. Ciechanowski, Katon, and Russo Hirsch. “The relationship of depressive symptoms to symptom reporting, self-care and glucose control in diabetes.” Gen Hosp Psychiatry 25 (2003): 246–252. Egede, Zheng, and Simpson Kelvin. “Comorbid depression is associated with increased health care use and expenditures in individuals with diabetes.” Diabetes Care 25 (2002): 464– 470. Peyrot, Mark, Rubin, Richard, and Siminerion Linda. “Physician and Nurses use of psychosocial strategies in diabetes care.” (2006). Web. 30 April 2014. Graff, Steve. Large Study of Italian Diabetic Patients Confirms Physicians Empathy Directly Associated with Positive Clinical Outcomes. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Publishers, 2012. Noek, Skinner. “Psychological counseling in problematic diabetes: does it help?” Diabet Med. 19 (2012): 265–273. Olson, Doug. “Primary care doctors may no longer be needed.” (2012). Web. 30 Apr. 2014. Rubin, Peyrot. “Psychosocial problems and interventions in diabetes: a review of the literature.” Diabetes Care 15 (2012): 1640–1657. Welch, Jacobson. “The problem areas in diabetes scale: an evaluation of its clinical utility.” Diabetes Care 20 (1997): 760–766. Read More