In the meantime, I hosted another 3rd year medical student (this time from USC) for a 5 week family medicine rotation which just ended last week. Although we didn't have a whole lot of patients (which I feel bad about), hopefully we made up for it with quality over quantity. As with other students who have rotated with me, I asked her to write down some of her impressions in working in this type of medical practice. This time, in response to a previous comment by Dr. Mathew Wang, I made sure that I completed my student evaluation BEFORE receiving her write-up so that it would be as unbiased as possible.
"A completely different type of practice! When I first called Dr. Seto to set up my family medicine rotation, he was hesitant, saying he wasn't sure if I would want to come to his office. He went on to describe that he ran a solo practice, no staff. He said he also usually only saw about 4 patients per day, never more than 8, and sometimes made housecalls. This sounded interesting to me, so I signed up. It was great. The level of patient care he could provide was second to none I have ever seen. The open access model was incredibly appealing. His patients were very satisfied. I thought it was great that a patient could call with a complaint, and Dr. Seto would say, "Can you come in right now?" Amazing. The amount of time spent with the patients was about four times that in most offices I've seen. This was both great for the patient, and great for me. As a medical student I appreciated being able to work through the problems and not rush, and being able to observe Dr. Seto give a truly comprehensive evaluation to the patients. I imagine an outing to the doctor for most people is a one to two hour trip or more. The difference with Dr. Seto is the one to two hours is all with him, not in a waiting room. I felt lucky to be able to get a glimpse of this type of practice is run. Yes, there was downtime, but I always had reading to do. This was when Dr. Seto would do some of his administrative work. I hope to see more practices like this one in the future."
Mariah Baughn
MSIII
Thanks for your comments, Mariah, and for graciously allowing me to post your name.
I hope to see more practices like this in the future, too. That is why this blog exists. Because I believe the practice of medicine can be much better than the way it is being delivered to the majority of Americans right now. I don't know if this is the best way but I think my patients are happy, as am I. How many patients and doctors can say that? I think it's interesting that whenever I run into someone I used to know at my old job, they often ask me, "Are you happy?" to which I always answer a truthful "Yes". So this venture is a work in progress, a story that is still being written. Hopefully, one with a happy ending. Okay, I'm ready to start the next chapter.
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