what I wish people knew about healthcare

the inside scoop from a primary care PA

Mar 11, 2024

∙ Paid

I posted a video on TikTok this week about going to my primary care appointment. In it, I mentioned I arrived 15 minutes early, and I did this despite expecting my provider to be running behind.

This is because my appointment was slotted for 11:20am, meaning it was likely either in the middle or at the end of this provider’s schedule (most providers start between 8-10am). If appointments are only 20 minutes, it is very likely that by the end of the session, the provider will be significantly behind. So I brought a book, work, and snacks, and discussed some other ways that I was trying to make the appointment more easeful for the provider because..solidarity.

Almost immediately, this comment arrived.

“As much as I pay to insurance and out of pocket, I will not be taken late and have my time disrespected. I have to be robbed and also have my time disregarded? I think not.”

SIGH.

On the one hand, I absolutely hear and feel where this person is coming from. On the other, it is the perfect representation of all of us being mad at the system, while taking it out on the faces / touchpoints of said system (front desk staff, office managers, MAs, nurses, providers, and all other healthcare workers etc).

In this post, I’m talking about things I wish everyone knew about healthcare, primary care especially.

It admittedly reads a little spicy. I wrote it in snippets during the week when feeling..let’s say…charged. I kept most of the initial language so you can feel my frustration and before it eventually peeters and putters out to bone-deep sadness with a sprinkle of learned helplessness. To then more hopeful after a weekend of rest.

I don’t feel this during most weeks, though this particular week is a reflection of just how easy it is to slip back into burnout.

Referenced in this piece:

what I wish people knew about healthcare

the inside scoop from a primary care PA

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