Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Talk About Cherry-Picking

This is it, a double-take headline on NPR that is the unholy spawn of social Internet and medical marketing pressures: speed-dating at the Doc Shop.

I have been mulling over the prospect of a new practice; this is exactly the start-up idea I was looking for.

Let us dispense with the longueurs of the 15-minute visit. Even allowing for the luxury of a 5-minute bathroom break, I can envision 11 accelerated diagnostic evaluations per hour. The Adderall scripts will by flying fast and furious.

(Note to DEA: this is a satirical post).

3 comments:

Dr X said...

"The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead." -- Ralph Ellison

One of the most frequently denied truths about relationships is that beginnings matter. These relationships begin in a desperate, competitive manner denigrating to physicians, not to mention that the likely unconscious implications of the dating framework are seductive.

Both patient and physician will always know how they started and it will matter.

Novalis said...

Yes, it really was one of those Onion/April Fools Day stories. Can you imagine the boundary issues? Does a 5-minute "consult" (?) establish a patient-physician relationship? I can well imagine a reliable rate of outcomes like: "No, I can't see you as a patient/doctor, but are you free for dinner and a movie tonight?" I can't believe the malpractice insurers (or the ethics scolds like me) would be happy.

Dr X said...

"No, I can't see you as a patient/doctor, but are you free for dinner and a movie tonight"

Yup.