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How dermatology became the 'it' job in medicine

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47 points bookofjoe | 2 comments | 18 Nov 24 12:56 UTC | HN request time: 0.422s | source
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f6v ◴[18 Nov 24 14:06 UTC] No.42172363[source]▶
Tried getting an appointment in Denmark. “We don’t take any new patients”. A familiar story when trying to reach many specialists in European countries (Germany, Belgium). Except I doubt they’re getting 500k.
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jjice ◴[18 Nov 24 14:27 UTC] No.42172541[source]▶
Anecdotal, but I'm in the North East US and I called, and I'm not joking, nine primary care offices. Eight of them said they couldn't take anymore patients, and one said I could get an appointment six months later.

I hadn't needed to go to a primary care doctor in my adult life, but it was mind blowing that this was the case. Many friends of mine have had the same experience.

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cg5280 ◴[18 Nov 24 14:39 UTC] No.42172635[source]▶
Had the same thing in the Midwest about 8 months ago. Had to call a half dozen offices before one would take me and appointments had to be scheduled long in advance. I had not been to the doctor as an adult either and was quickly surprised by how frustrating healthcare is.
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1. nerdponx ◴[18 Nov 24 15:01 UTC] No.42172899[source]▶
This is new since Covid era. You used to be able to get an appointment for a physical just a few weeks out, and it was easy to find a new doctor if you needed to.
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2. HeyLaughingBoy ◴[18 Nov 24 21:44 UTC] No.42177441[source]▶
It regionally-dependent though. On average, if we need to see a doctor, we can get an appointment in a day or two. For a routine physical, it might be two weeks, three at most.