I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that “primary care” doctors are disliked by other doctors. Or, perhaps not actually disliked, but rather, “looked down upon” which is worse than dislike. Why do other doctors look down on their primary care colleagues? First of all, we are looked down upon due to money. PCPs do not make a lot of money, and in our society we value money above all else. We admire people who make lots of it, and we despise those who make less of it. This is simply a moral failing of society, not unique to the medical field. Doctors are guilty of idolizing the wealthy as much as anyone else! So, we are the, “poor cousins.” Second of all, we are looked down upon due to the fact that we do not know as much about the specialties as specialists do. For example, the specialist will ridicule the primary care doctor for asking a “stupid” question that is “easy” for them. Well, maybe it is easy for them because it is literally the ONLY thing they do ALL day, EVERY day, while the PCP must know every specialty. Well, yes, that is why they pay specialists the “big bucks” to know a lot about a single topic. When you think about it, it is a lot harder to have to know everything, and sometimes we do not have access to all the latest thought about their specialty. There are multiple specialties, and I will wager that the specialists know much less about the other specialties than the PCP must know. Thirdly, we are looked down upon because we are seen as “less well educated” or “people who were not good enough to be orthopedists.” While it is difficult to get accepted into orthopedics, that does not mean that those who chose primary care are less well educated or less capable. I chose Internal Medicine because it used to be “the thinking person’s specialty.” It was the most cerebral specialty. Also, women tend to choose non-surgical options because we can’t get up to go to the hospital at 6am when we have kids. So we go for the 8am professions. Fourthly, we are looked down upon because we need to make a lot of referrals. Well, that isn’t our choice. Most of us are employed and we are not allowed to admit our own patients, and we are not allowed to do certain types of tests or procedures. Also, because our payments are so low, we do not have the TIME that is NECESSARY to complete our “procedure.” Our “procedure” is thinking deeply about your problem and creating solutions. Insurance does not pay for “thought” it only pays for tests and procedures. So we are forced to over-order them. Finally, the PCP is the closest you can get to a “caregiver” in a professional role. Everyone looks down on caregivers, which is why misogyny is so rampant in our culture today. People with sharp tools who can cut things are respected, people who are caregivers are not respected. Many women think that the answer is to get sharp tools and start cutting. However, I think the answer is to give caregiving and caregivers the respect that they deserve. Other opinion suggested that : As a surgeon, the doctor which we dislike the most is the anesthetist. And there is nothing personal about it. The reasons are (to be taken with a grain of salt) They are very strict about nil by mouth rule, and will not budge……. until they want the case started early when it would be ok We as surgeons want to get ahead with the surgery as a lot of mental and physical preparation goes in each surgery, but the anesthetist is ready to throw in the towel at the smallest of reasons like, the patient has a runny nose, BP is not ideal, sugar is not ideal etc We will be sweating it out in surgery while the anesthetist will be discussing yesterdays match with the technician, or fingers will be shooting away on their mobile No anesthetist can work without tea, if we take a blood sample of anesthetist, it would be 80 percent tea (or coffee acc. to geography) Anesthetist are known as “Narad muni” (indian mythological god who loves to gossip) of the OR. They have an opinion about every surgeon and make sure everyone knows about that opinion. They are the mainstay of “grape vines” of the hospitals According to the anesthetist “The surgeon which takes the minimum time during surgery is the best.” What he did during that time does not matter While we as surgeons are struggling to get the perfect reduction of bones,they are worried about the well being of the patient, even to the extent of asking us to hurry up else the patient may sink. WHAT NERVE!!!!!!!!!!!! Source
