Sponsored Post: Going to the doctor used to be different. When I was growing up, you had a doctor. One doctor. A family doctor. This was the same doctor your parents went to and the same doctor you would probably go to until he (and it was always a he) retired. Farewell and amen to that.
The post the other week about going to the gynaecologist made me think about how family doctors have changed. Now I’m a grown-up, I have friends who are doctors (I love having doctor friends, they come with many benefits late at night when you need an emergency diagnosis) and they’re all women. The idea of having one family doctor has faded as more female doctors choose to practice part-time and job-share. I’ve noticed a real move towards people having a handful of doctors in the same practice, all of whom they’re happy to see.
I currently go to a practice where there are half a dozen different doctors me and my kids see. My husband still has an old school family doctor who even – get this – makes HOUSE CALLS. Or has you over to his house on weekends in an emergency. I dimly recall house calls from my childhood. Feeling shocking and the doctor appearing at the end of the bed like a vision……
How do you choose your doctor? Male or female? A group practice or do you prefer a more exclusive doctor relationship?
Top Comments
When I was a teenager, our family went to a practice and Dad had one or two favourite doctors. I was so grateful for house calls once when I was so sick with Diarrhoea that I could NOT leave the house. He came with an injection and told my parents that there was nothing wrong with Boy George. What a saint!
The doctor I go to now runs a practice with her husband and she is the one my Mum took me too when we moved from QLD to NSW and now that I live out of home I still go to her. If things are desperate I will see her husband, which isn't a problem as he is lovely as well, though for lady things I do go to her. I don't go to the doctor's very often but when I do I like that she is no nonsense, straight to the point and how we can fix it.