5 Common Myths About Doctors, Part 2
Picking up where Part 1 left off, we’re exploring doctor myths like: Do doctors get paid for administering vaccines? Why are they late? What makes them so stoic?
As some of you who follow me on social media may know, after 10 years of podcasting for Macmillan publishing, sadly my podcasting journey is coming to an end. It’s a bittersweet moment for me, as the House Call Doctor podcast has personally meant so much to me. I will be moving on to embark on a video blogging adventure. It will still be me, and I will still be writing my own content, as always. Today’s podcast will be my second to last, but I am very hopeful that my loyal listeners and followers will continue to follow me along this journey. Once my YouTube video channel is released, you can find more information on how to subscribe to it (free) in two ways:
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As always, I will continue to share up-to-date medical information on social media, and take you along with me on this exciting path in life. Please tune in next time for my farewell episode. Thanks to all of you for your support throughout the years—I am so very grateful to you all.
Last week, we initiated our controversial discussion on some of the top myths about doctors. We reviewed whether or not doctors are actually wealthy, and whether we are truly in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies. Let’s continue our discussion and review the next three common myths I hear about doctors.
Doctors Get Paid for Administering Vaccines
The vaccine myths are simply out of control in the media, especially on the internet. I have two precious little girls who mean the world to me, and they are both fully vaccinated and on schedule. Why on earth would I even take a small chance at placing their lives at risk if I thought even for a moment that vaccines are evil? On the contrary, I am protecting my girls the best I can, just like I do for my patients. There’s a study that shows that 95+% of physicians vaccinate their kids on scheduleopens PDF file . We’ve been through 11+ years of school and medical training to understand the science of medicine. We wouldn’t harm our own children.
Most doctors are also employees of large groups or organizations. If you haven’t noticed, small, private doctor’s offices are hard to come by these days. Your own doctor is likely an employee. As employees we do not receive any benefit from recommending vaccines. And those in private practice get reimbursed for the cost of purchasing the vaccine in addition to perhaps a small fee for having their staff administer it. Believe me, vaccination is no money-making scheme for doctors. If your doctor wanted to make money, they’d opt for out-of-pocket cosmetic procedures–injecting botulism toxin for wrinkles, tummy tucks, liposuction, and other surgical procedures that are not covered by health insurance. But trust me, not vaccines.
How that myth persists is beyond me.
Doctors Are Late Because They’re Lazy or Greedy
I have beaten this one to death before and it went viral on Business Insider. Why did this one hit a nerve? Those of us in healthcare can really feel the pain of this topic. It’s one of the most grueling parts of day-to-day practice. And frustrated patients can relate, as time is precious in this busy, crazy world.
If you haven’t read the article, your doctor is not late because they went out for a Starbucks run. They’re also not running late because they are “greedy” and double-book patients to make money. As I previously mentioned above, most doctors are employees. That means we really don’t have a say when it comes to our schedules after signing a contract. Our schedules are pre-designed “templates” that dictate how many patients we see, what time we see them, and how long of a time slot we are allotted for each one.
I’ve been employed in three various settings as a physician by now—in public health, in a managed care organization, and in a very large non-profit medical group. And I can tell you that none of them routinely double-book patients. And as physicians, we despise having to be double-booked because we know it’s going to be a rough day if that happens.
The reason we run late is quite complex, and as I outlined in my prior article, it is because it truly is a reflection of two complex components:
- The current U.S. healthcare system that fails to properly value and reimburse primary care physician time and services. Hence, in order to pay the outrageously high-cost of overhead, more patients must be seen in smaller time slots.
- Taking care of people’s health and lives is complex. It’s not black-and-white. Patients who are seemingly scheduled for a “simple cold” may actually be in respiratory distress and near death. They may be coming in for a routine follow-up on a medication but their blood pressure may incidentally be sky-rocket high, enough to stroke out. We never know what’s behind that exam room door, and we cannot predict it well beforehand, let alone schedulers who book the appointments.
Doctors Are Cold and Emotionless
Perhaps you have been turned off by a doctor or two who seemed cold and emotionless, even seemingly rude. Well, this “hardening” process of the soul begins in medical school, when we are fresh, young, and malleable. I’ve described my personal experience in medical school in detail in this article.
If your doctor allows emotions to interfere, it may incapacitate them and negatively influence their job.
There’s an underlying, unspoken, yet not always so subtle push from the medical profession to toughen us up from the get-go. Isn’t this what the military also strives to accomplish with its soldiers? My husband, a former marine who fought frontline infantry in Desert Storm, describes a very similar desensitization phenomenon beginning with boot camp. Expressing your emotions as a physician is similarly a big no-no. This unspoken culture that is cultivated in the medical community is kept under wraps, this idea that somehow we are expected not to feel. And if you do express sadness or tears, you are seriously looked down upon.
Why, you may ask? What is the purpose of creating Cyborg-like physicians? Well, imagine as a primary care physician, for instance, that on an average day, you see several patients suffering from depression with one contemplating suicide, another one or two who despise you for caring enough to help them overcome the prescription drugs that are driving their addiction, and that one patient who truly feels like a thousand patients, because they are suffering from a very grave illness…and frankly, they are one of the nicest people you’ve ever met.
How does one cope with all that, every day? If your doctor allows emotions to interfere, it may incapacitate them and negatively influence their job. It’s not easy to take home all of these emotions every single day.
But do you want to know the truth? We do. We still stay up for hours at night pondering over these intense experiences each day…we just don’t show it.
If you’d like to continue to follow Dr. Majd throughout her video blogging journey, check out her her Instagram page (@ dr.s.majd) or her facebook page. And stay tuned for her final farewell episode next time.
Please note that all content here is strictly for informational purposes only. This content does not substitute any medical advice, and does not replace any medical judgment or reasoning by your own personal health provider. Please always seek a licensed physician in your area regarding all health related questions and issues.
Image of vaccination © Shutterstock
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About the Author
Dr. Sanaz Majd is a board-certified Family Medicine physician who graduated from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. Her special interests are women’s health and patient education.
