A Morning at the Clinic

Today I had an appointment for a physical. No big deal, I figured that I'm a girl of a certain age and perhaps some baseline lab work should be done, etc...no biggie. Well, my assigned doctor is deployed. In lieu of an M.D., I saw the "team" P.A. (physicians assistant). Now, generally I never have a problem seeing a Nurse Practitioner, I feel that they are advance practice NURSES. They knew what they wanted to be and just furthered their training...they stayed on the nursing side of things and believe in healing and patient care.

The P.A. is a totally different animal, they do exactly what their job title states...assist physicians. They didn't want to go to med school or nursing school. They do not have to carry the big insurance policies and they are minimalists. Specifically, the Family Medicine P.A. Not really a specialty, the modern name of "general practice"...a little of this and a little of that. Let's be clear, "general practice" means NOT A SPECIALIST and not an interest or foothold in anything tangible like pediatrics or endocrinology.

Now, back to my appointment...I was immediately handed a questionnaire that I promptly filled out about my health history. I was escorted to a room by 2 young men, corpsmen, where I was weighed, vital signed and asked more personal questions regarding my health. (A little weird). Then, I was escorted to the exam room where I was told to have a seat and wait for the "doctor". Well, she couldn't have been much older than Abbie! She acted very young, hardly made eye contact and questioned me like I was an idiot. When I informed her that I was a nurse, she changed her tune a little and then told me about how she could never work in obstetrics because of her past experience during her training rotation. She even went as far to tell me that she made her obstetrician induce her labor early because of her fear of something bad happening, and admitted she was hysterical! (Very professional, yes?) Her doctor probably did it to be finished with her!

I had a skin tag removed under my arm. She told me it would be very painful, and then told me she had no tolerance for pain...huh? It was frozen off...again, no big deal. While I was waiting for the corpsmen to get the freezing agent, I overheard them talking in the hall...f bombs everywhere! When I said something about it, she shrugged and said, "that's corpsmen for you."...again, huh?

I did try to obtain a waiver to be seen by a private physican. I was told that I have to live 30 minutes or more away from the clinic. I live 29 minutes away, and no exceptions are allowed. Sigh.