Not With My Life!!

sensei8 · KF Sensei

Allow me to provide some very general background.

My new Primary Care Provider (PCP) has everything I need from my doctor. However, what I don't need from my PCP is him trying to be my Cardiologist, and this, right there, is where I drew the line, and set him straight.

My new PCP increased my Metoprolol from one pill to one and a half, in the hopes of lower my heart rate to around 48bpm. My PCP doesn't like that my average heat beat is 86bpm, and he wants me to wear a Holter Monitor from 48 hours to 3 days, or one that can be worn at all. These are just some of Cardiac Procedures that my PCP is wanting to perform.

"As my PCP, I need you to treat everything that's not Cardiologist related; that's where my Cardiologist is the expert!! Please don't assume a position that you're not an expert in!!

Would you be willing to work alongside with my Cardiologist in the area of exchanging ideas concerning my well being. I don't need either of you to keep information from one another. I don't need either of you to change things that the other is trying to do what's medically designed help me!!"

My new PCP says...

"We're competitors with one another!!"

I then sternly said..."Not with my life!!"

This introduction leads me to the crux of this post...

When is competition, beyond the scope of the various sporting events/venues, OK or not OK??

When the MA Governing Body VS another MA Governing Body??

When MA school VS another MA school??

When Sensei VS another MA Sensei??

In closing, my Cardiologist told my wife something quite alarming about the increase to my Metoprolol from one pill, to one pill and a half. If my heart beat per minutes drop below 50 bpm for one hour, get me to the hospital ASAP because with the Afib, I could die.

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**Proof is on the floor!!!

singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

Competitiveness can be a great thing, as it drives innovation and ingenuity (especially when combined with ability and curiosity!)
It is, in my opinion, necessary for doctors to be competitive, but the situation you presented seemed quite inappropriate. Unfortunately, doctors are people, too. Sounds like your PCP has a bit of a God Complex going on!

Regarding your condition: Best wishes sir. Keep kicking!
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Shizentai · Green Belt

Interesting topic!

I know I won't be popular for saying this, but I think our society puts an overemphasis on the benefits of competition. I'm not saying people should never compete, but I think most competitive people both compete and justify competition because it feels good to win, not because it helps others. Don't get me wrong, I think competition is a good way to gain self confidence and to learn to deal with disappointment.... but again, this is a an inward pursuit. As such there needs to be balance with outward gains.

Sure, competition is motivating, but it also inherently means that you are choosing to play the same game as someone else, rather that doing something different that may be more helpful in some cases.

As a scientist, I see this a lot in academics. People always want to pitch ideas as "competing hypotheses" because it's sexy. So often that ends up stimulating dozens of papers supporting either side A or side B. In the end both often end up being true to certain degrees, because in reality, they are not mutually exclusive concepts. If you consider success as getting as many papers written as possible, then great, competition helped, but if you are like me, and believe in quality over quantity, then there are better ways to go about this.

This is not even to mention the rampant one-upmanship that goes on between academics within the same areas of research. What's really interesting is when some Stephen Hawking type person shows up new to the scene and strays off the beaten path to forge new directions that shed light on old disagreements.

Competition can be motivating, but it also is expensive. For every thought I waste thinking about how to one-up another person, I could have instead been thinking about how to tackle a problem that affects more people than just me.

This is my opinion.

You should feel comfortable with your main physician, and he/she should be good at listening to your concerns. I wouldn't blame you if you sought a new one. I'm-always-right GPs for me only result in bad news (someone who tried to biopsy my hernia, someone who wrote off my back pain when I had a fractured T12, etc.)
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sensei8 · KF Sensei

I agree, competition is oftentimes warranted, and necessary for the survival of any business or for any individual. Positive competition is the bedrock of any business and individual; creativity is birthed.

JR 137 · Black Belt

This is why I hate 90% of the GPS/PCPs. Jack of all trades and master of none is most rampant amongst these guys IMO.

Runny nose, sneezing, coughing, etc., see your GP. Just about everything else, see a specialist. I find it extremely odd how specialists only treat what their specialty is, yet GPS try to treat everything.

The GP claimed the cardiologist is his competition? There’s no competition as far as I’m concerned. I’d look for a GP who doesn’t think he knows everything and is trying to outdo “the competition.”

My former GP was the best. He was board certified in family medicine AND cardiology. He knew his limitations and didn’t look at other specialists as competition. Rather, he saw them as teammates. Unfortunately I moved 3 hours away. My current guy is pretty good. Time will tell however.

Rant over.

singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

Alan Armstrong · Black Belt

maybe competitive doctors or surgeon are not popular with some, but it worked out in my benefit.

Having low standard treatment with my first heart attack lead to having three more attacks.

Was a real painful nightmare for me, with some doctors who were downright nasty.

Sometimes specialists aren't so special, one can only hope things turn out for the best.

I did get lucky and eventually landed in the hands of some very good surgeons.

As I was scheduled to be operated on by one German surgeon, three other surgeons stole me and whisked me away to the operating theatre, two men from India and one from Canada.

These latest doctors were very professional and were using the best equipment and procedures for the time.

Competitive doctors/surgeons worked out for me, I think the German doctor was procrastinating or wasn't sure or confident enough to operate on me.

I had seen the German doctor after surgery, he looked embarrassed about what had happen (with his patient being highjacked) lucky me.

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

Competition can be a great motivator.

However, in you situation, Bob, I think cooperation would be valued over competition.

Likewise, in the Martial Arts world, I think competition is what first comes to mind, when we could all benefit more from more cooperation here and there.
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mazzybear · Brown Belt

Competitiveness is healthy in lots of fields such as sports but, for me, it should not come in to the medical arena at all!! A GP/PCP should always be driven to be the best they can be, yes. But putting themselves up against a specialist? NO!!!

For me if my cardiologist was telling me one thing about my heart and my GP another, then I would listen to my cardiologist, EVERY TIME! I'm not saying GPs don't know what they are talking about, of course they do, they studied hard for many years to be what they are, my cousin is a GP so I know how hard they work and, I mean no disrespect to them at all but, a Cardiologist SPECIALIZES in everything to do with the heart, so for me there is no question, I go with the specialist every time!

So no, it's not a competition, if he wants to compete, take up a sport or get into the MAs. But to go up against a specialist? like you said:

"NOT WITH MY LIFE"

Mo.
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Be water, my friend.

Alan Armstrong · Black Belt

Had another bout with specialists regarding the skin on my face.

Was subjected to frost bite, which turned worse by developing dark red blotches as my immune system was over reacting.

With painful, dry ice treatment on my face, that resembled stubbing a cigarette on my face, having at least 20 treatments, the skin specialist told me that there is nothing more that he could do and dismissed me as his patient.

Two years later now my face was a disaster, while on holiday in another country, I visited a skin specialist, with a cream and using a special soap, my botches have completely disappeared.

So hear we have it, two specialists one giving me treatments over the space of a few years and the other with a 30 minute examination, cured me, without the very painful dry ice treatment.

The deference with these specialists, was also that the first one was free and the second one was not; which could be why the saying "You get what you payed for" is worth mentioning here.

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