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Why don't you train to be a doctor, become a GP, work as one for 10 years then make a judgment on them?

Not that I'd want a doctor with such a generalising, misunderstanding attitude.
Original post by MENDACIUM
ofcourse. I just feel the G.P's i have seen (most) are utterly useless. If you ask a G.P so i was diagnoised with super ventricular tychardia, what's that?

and they say they don't know. It really gives you confidence.


It's supraventricular tachycardia not tychardia
Original post by Nutella:3
It's supraventricular tachycardia not tychardia


Actually it's supraventricular tachycardia, but there we go..

EDIT: Ahhh corrected me before I even posted.
Original post by MJK91
Actually it's supraventricular tachycardia, but there we go..

EDIT: Ahhh corrected me before I even posted.


Sorry. I only noticed 'tachycardia' first before correcting myself on the first bit. :redface:
Reply 204
Original post by Nutella:3
It's supraventricular tachycardia not tychardia


It's lev-vi-oh-sa, not leviosarrrrr

Just kidding!:smile: Thanks for pointing that out.
Reply 205
Posting about my personal experience of a GP: a year and a half ago I developed a serious lung infection and was having extreme difficulty breathing and wasnt able to walk or stand for long at all, needed help up the stairs. Went to my GP told him the symptoms and he diagnosed a throat infection...never even used the stethoscope to listen to my lungs even though I said I could hardly breath.
By the end of that week I couldn't go to school as I had no energy and was losing weight extremely quickly. Therefore my mother dragged me back to the GP, it was a different doctor and she immediately diagnosed me with pneumonia. I was 16, and had to be rushed to hospital as my blood oxygen was below 85.
In my opinion the first doctor missed a fairly obvious sign that there was a lung problem whereas the other noticed straight away. Bearing in mind pneumonia is rare in the young.
Some physicians are good, others aren't so; can't varnish them all with the same brush. Just go to med school and try do a better job yourself as you know your own experience.
Original post by CHeyes5
Posting about my personal experience of a GP: a year and a half ago I developed a serious lung infection and was having extreme difficulty breathing and wasnt able to walk or stand for long at all, needed help up the stairs. Went to my GP told him the symptoms and he diagnosed a throat infection...never even used the stethoscope to listen to my lungs even though I said I could hardly breath.
By the end of that week I couldn't go to school as I had no energy and was losing weight extremely quickly. Therefore my mother dragged me back to the GP, it was a different doctor and she immediately diagnosed me with pneumonia. I was 16, and had to be rushed to hospital as my blood oxygen was below 85.
In my opinion the first doctor missed a fairly obvious sign that there was a lung problem whereas the other noticed straight away. Bearing in mind pneumonia is rare in the young.
Some physicians are good, others aren't so; can't varnish them all with the same brush. Just go to med school and try do a better job yourself as you know your own experience.


If you were that ill, why didn't you go to hospital first? That's what my dad did - he had what he thought was the start of a cold and turned out to be a pretty bad chest infection. He went to A&E.
Reply 207
Original post by OU Student
If you were that ill, why didn't you go to hospital first? That's what my dad did - he had what he thought was the start of a cold and turned out to be a pretty bad chest infection. He went to A&E.


I had just started school after the summer and was doing 2 advanced highers and 2 highers and didn't want to miss classes. Had many chest infections and just dealt with them.
Reply 208
I'd rather sit in a walk-in centre for a few hours than see my G.P.

I'm not saying that they are bad at their job, or that I have a dislike for them (I've had the same one for years) but on the odd occasions I have gone to my GP for something other than the really simple things I've managed to diagnose myself, they've never seemed to offer much of a diagnosis. I rarely ever get ill, but these times always make me feel like I'm some sort of hypochondriac.

The last time I went to my GP was following an incident where twice within the same day, I suddenly felt faint and nauseous, and my hearing became a little fuzzy. However after sitting down for 5 minutes with some deep breathing, I felt fine again... :confused: I couldn't explain what happened for this to come and pass so quickly, especially as I'd never experienced it before. Naturally I made an appointment at the doctors for a blood pressure test, my GP did this and all was normal. And so my GP said I was fine and sent me on my way. The same thing has happened since, but only once, and again with no explanation. Blood sugar maybe? I don't know. :idontknow:
Original post by Peppa
I'd rather sit in a walk-in centre for a few hours than see my G.P.

I'm not saying that they are bad at their job, or that I have a dislike for them (I've had the same one for years) but on the odd occasions I have gone to my GP for something other than the really simple things I've managed to diagnose myself, they've never seemed to offer much of a diagnosis. I rarely ever get ill, but these times always make me feel like I'm some sort of hypochondriac.

The last time I went to my GP was following an incident where twice within the same day, I suddenly felt faint and nauseous, and my hearing became a little fuzzy. However after sitting down for 5 minutes with some deep breathing, I felt fine again... :confused: I couldn't explain what happened for this to come and pass so quickly, especially as I'd never experienced it before. Naturally I made an appointment at the doctors for a blood pressure test, my GP did this and all was normal. And so my GP said I was fine and sent me on my way. The same thing has happened since, but only once, and again with no explanation. Blood sugar maybe? I don't know. :idontknow:


"feeling faint" is not specific enough for a diagnosis. The vast majority of ailments are nonspecific and non fatal, so it will not be given a diagnosis until more clarity is given by repeat visits or additional symptoms. So many things can cause syncope including low blood sugar, hypotension, dehydration, malnutrition, heat, intoxication, head trauma, infection, ...

Do you see how it is not possible to determine this very vague presenting symptom into a concrete diagnosis?

That being said, one of the paths I see my medical training going is general practise, and I think we should always be listening to any complaint to look out for red flag symptoms, to catch the rare times when people have a real, serious, treatable or urgent problem. I think the huge majority of GPs aim to do this and sometimes the complexity of diagnostic procedure is too detailed to explain, so it will require personal research.

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Original post by madfish
yea,

Doctors a definitely losing their respect in society (by me anyway)

I think they should raise the entry requirements in all med schools from AAA to A*A*AA or something very very hard to get. (only a minority of people in society would get this, which would mean A LOT less donkeys would apply for med school)

This would mean only the academic elites would have the ability to be a doctor ( you may argue that academia is not everything blah blah... shut up. If you are not smart I don't want you deciding what illness I have.)

To be frank, some of the people that went on to medicine at my school were complete dumb asses I wouldn't let them look after my gold fish never mind my health

EDIT: I know my views are most likely frowned upon as you would think that I am "just jealous"... this is not case... I want to be a Chemical Engineer, not a medical doctor...I have never considered being a medical doctor as that type of work does not appeal to me

EDIT: I see I have accumulated several more negs since my latest ban. Did I say something wrong? Explain.



Original post by MENDACIUM
I think it's hard enough to get into medical school, with the BMAT and UKCAT ect.

I don't think it's aptitude.

If you think about it, most of these doctors got in decades ago, when you needed BBB to get into medical school and when it was easier.

So many doctors are from abroad, and i read an article on the BBC stating that doctors from abroad were the most incompetent and that further training needs to be introduced.

A lot of people here are slating me for arrogance, which i would brush aside had i not had a great admiration for medicine and doctors, which is why i hold them to high standards.


A-levels get you into med school, but it's not as simple as that.

You do realise you have another 7 years + of studying and more exams to qualify, right? Many, many of the people who get in with AAA and above end up failing, or dropping out, due to the work load.
Original post by ArcaneAnna
A-levels get you into med school, but it's not as simple as that.

You do realise you have another 7 years + of studying and more exams to qualify, right? Many, many of the people who get in with AAA and above end up failing, or dropping out, due to the work load.


Exactly. Plus, medical school degrees are getting easier year by year just like A levels. Evidence: the drug list for my year has halved in size since the year 5 ago.


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Original post by Hypocrism
Exactly. Plus, medical school degrees are getting easier year by year just like A levels. Evidence: the drug list for my year has halved in size since the year 5 ago.


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You sound like a thirty year old moaning about A-levels being harder back in the day :P
I think the reasons the OP is receiving so many negative responses is because most of this forum is full of middle class people.

Living in East London, I received exactly the same treatment from my GPs as the OP described. They don't seem to care about their job, they often give very bad guesses, and it takes a while for you to be referred even if you complain about very bad pains (as I did. I was literally debilitated for several months, near a year, just from pain, and my GP did nothing about it even though I told them that just walking to the clinic was absolute anguish. They literally said "well I don't know" or "it's probably nothing" or even "it's common to many women your age, it'll pass").

As soon as I moved to my uni in the East midlands EVERYTHING changed. The attitudes of the doctors here are different. They're able to answer my questions and give good advice. They're much friendlier and obviously they enjoy their job. They ask very relevant questions in regards to what you're telling them rather than just saying "you probably just have a cold". They look genuinely interested in solving whatever problem you have.

I think it might be because the working conditions of the doctors is worse and more stressful in some areas than others so the GPs just end up hating their jobs and hating turning up at the clinic. I'd go as far as to say that the GPs probably even resent their clients after a while.
Original post by Dragonfly07
I think the reasons the OP is receiving so many negative responses is because most of this forum is full of middle class people.


I don't think you could even generalise that much, I believe it really is down to the individual doctor. For example, I'm from a working class town and live in the most deprived area of that town. My GP is based right in the middle of this area. My GP managed to get me into hospital quickly and so I avoided needing a kidney transplant because he had up to date knowledge and was able to catch something that others may not have.

I think if you have a GP that doesn't give a damn, it's probably because they've just lost the enthusiasm and interest they had. That could be for many reasons and so I really think any sort of generalisation isn't a good idea.
Original post by MJK91
You sound like a thirty year old moaning about A-levels being harder back in the day :P


Lol? Just observing. I'm part of the group that takes the easier exams with fewer drugs, so I'm not complaining! (As a side note I do spend a lot of time complaining about A-Levels being easy, but that's because I took IB which shows zero grade inflation, and so I feel justified in mocking them :P)

Then again, I haven't seen the older drug lists. I think they just removed duplicates, and just teach one generic drug for each class of drug, which makes it seem like a more marked decline in the number of taught drugs than it actually is. That's a logical thing to happen because the drugs used in clinical practice are in a state of continual change, but it does seem to be getting shorter in terms of the number of learned drugs.
Original post by Hypocrism
Lol? Just observing. I'm part of the group that takes the easier exams with fewer drugs, so I'm not complaining! (As a side note I do spend a lot of time complaining about A-Levels being easy, but that's because I took IB which shows zero grade inflation, and so I feel justified in mocking them :P)

Then again, I haven't seen the older drug lists. I think they just removed duplicates, and just teach one generic drug for each class of drug, which makes it seem like a more marked decline in the number of taught drugs than it actually is. That's a logical thing to happen because the drugs used in clinical practice are in a state of continual change, but it does seem to be getting shorter in terms of the number of learned drugs.


I'm amazed you need to learn individual drugs at all bar a few exceptions (analgesia and antibiotics and so forth), and instead I think a good idea would be teaching drug classes as opposed to the individual compounds and their dosing. So long as you know the mechanism of action behind drugs, surely the dosing can be calculated when you're in clinical practice and on the most appropriate drug at that time?

Speaking as an outsider, obviously :P
Original post by MJK91
I'm amazed you need to learn individual drugs at all bar a few exceptions (analgesia and antibiotics and so forth), and instead I think a good idea would be teaching drug classes as opposed to the individual compounds and their dosing. So long as you know the mechanism of action behind drugs, surely the dosing can be calculated when you're in clinical practice and on the most appropriate drug at that time?

Speaking as an outsider, obviously :P


Pretty much every medical professional should have the latest version of the BNF which would give details on doses etc.
Original post by MJK91
I'm amazed you need to learn individual drugs at all bar a few exceptions (analgesia and antibiotics and so forth), and instead I think a good idea would be teaching drug classes as opposed to the individual compounds and their dosing. So long as you know the mechanism of action behind drugs, surely the dosing can be calculated when you're in clinical practice and on the most appropriate drug at that time?

Speaking as an outsider, obviously :P


There are clinical guidelines for all drugs, of which the commonest will be memorised but many can be looked up.

Drug learning is essential to be able to prescribe and talk about drug use. Also often knowing the drug class is ineffective since drugs in the same class do not always have the same action, and drugs with the same action do not always have the same class! Examples are the sulphonamides, used in antibacterial/cancer/protozoal chemotherapy, each with similar actions but different specificity. You can't mix them up or there are problems so you need to know the names. That being said, we often just learn one of a class (eg macrolides). It just depends on the course really!


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Reply 219
Original post by CHeyes5

Some physicians are good, others aren't so; can't varnish them all with the same brush. Just go to med school and try do a better job yourself as you know your own experience.


Or rather, you had a single bad experience with one GP who undoubtedly should have listened to your chest but forgot. Another did what every medical student let alone doctor would have done. That doesn't say that one is better than the other, you just know that one made one mistake - every single doctor makes mistakes, especially mistakes of omission.

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