Hello, I'm an emergency physician working in urgent care. Here's my question. Sometimes, patients come in saying they haven't seen a doctor in a few years and that they want "a general physical and bloodwork." Every time I hear that, I think, "Wow, that's really vague." I also realize that whenever I've gone for a general physical, it's more than just somebody listening to my heart and lungs. There is also some sort of general conversation about labs and tests; there is also some kind of anticipatory guidance. Since this is not part of the residency training in emergency medicine, I don't feel qualified to represent myself to someone as having the necessary knowledge base to do anyone's annual general physical, and refer them to primary care. Then then become enraged, and say stuff like, "A doctor is a doctor. Aren't you a doctor?" Attempts to explain that the knowledge base I acquired during an emergency medicine residency focused on looking for potential life threats, fixing/stabilizing them, giving initial treatment for non-emergencies, and then referring people to primary care. Not even the urgent care center is primary care; it's just supposed to be there for minor illnesses. Annual physicals are meant to look for disease while still in its early stages and aims to prevent disease from developing, if possible; this is one of the goals of primary care. It's made worse by the fact that some of the business/corporate owners of this urgent care place believe that if the patient wants an annual exam, the doctor should just give it to them. They also don't seem to want to understand that emergency docs aren't trained to be doing annual exams and might not now what to look for.
As my primary care colleagues, what do you all think? What are some things that you think could might go wrong if ER docs start doing "annual physicals" in urgent care centers just to keep patients and center owners happy? Thanks for your input.
As my primary care colleagues, what do you all think? What are some things that you think could might go wrong if ER docs start doing "annual physicals" in urgent care centers just to keep patients and center owners happy? Thanks for your input.