New doctor or veteran doctor

I, personally, like them to have at least 10 to 20 years under their belts. I'm at an age where finding a doc older than me is getting rather difficult, so I check when and where they went to school and did their residency. But, that's just me. I find younger doctors tend to rely more on tests to make a diagnosis. When I was younger, doctors tended to use tests to CONFIRM diagnosis resulting from hands on examination.

I was in the same situation as the OP. My doctor moved to a different office in the practice, and I had to switch to the doctor who was taking over most of her patients. I have had one appointment with her, and I was not impressed. When I see her for the six month wellness check, I plan on discussing my concerns with her. However, I am changing insurance companies, and it is possible I may end up with another one, although I'm pretty sure she is still in network.

I might feel a bit odd with a younger doctor, but as long as the doctor knows what they are talking about and is willing to listen to our concerns, age or years in practice do not matter.

I noticed that this post has popped up again. I started this post and ultimately went with a new doctor. With my HMO I can pull up past visit records and doctors notes for the visits. I changed doctors after reviewing her notes. She did very incomplete exams. She put in her notes things I did not say or do. Her observations were inaccurate. She put me on thyroid medicine. After a month she called and asked about symptoms relating to my thyroid. I told her I was fine and never had those symptoms that she was asking about. She then told me to quit taking the medication.

I feel like she heard what I was saying, but not listening to what I said. When I look up the physicians at my plan she often is accepting new patients, which suggests to me she has a higher turnover than many of the other doctors.

I ultimately switched to a more mature experienced doctor and am happy with my choice.

Physicians should be like family members. If you can’t pick up the phone and call your brother or sister tell him you have a problem then there is an issue issue. The same should be true of physicians. If you can’t pick up the phone and call your doctor then you don’t have a doctor.

My answer to the "new doctor or veteran doctor" question is simple.... odds favor the "veteran". Chances are an older experienced doctor has seen hundreds of real persons and all different kinds of people (patients)... Most of the "young" newer doctors are all text books and little cross-culture experience. As I am older I had an appointment with to a "younger" doc; when he read my blood test Bun score (kidney function) was one decimal point off normal he suggested we explore the reason and suggested some modification of my life-style. A month later I spoke to an experienced (old) urology doctor .... his response... if you had fasted for the blood draw, you had 12 prior hours without fluids and by definition you are some-bit dehydrated and your Bin score showed that. Nothing to worry about for that one-tenth of a point shift to "not-normal". I was told by my at the time new-doctor cardiologist that following him implanting a heart pacemaker to avoid showers and traveling for a time; fired that doctor and found a long-time cardiologist who told me I could travel the next day out of the country to England but should stop and have a medical nurse check the wound... that England has better antibiotics than the US... so I visited England the next ten days!

I have been seen by both over the years a couple of young newer doctors and a few older more experienced doctors. The doctor I have now is older and more experienced. I am very comfortable with him. I have talked to him about having to find a new doctor when he decides to retire. He explained it to me like this. "You and I get along good together." "You ask me questions and I try to answer them, I try to listen to you." "And you listen to me when I explain things to you.""We work good together." He explained that you have to find someone that will work with you and you with them, he said himself that there are a lot of good younger doctors out there. The problem finding one a new doctor whether young or older is finding one that's a good fit.

Just Saying!!! Back in 2020, mine and the Wife's Doctor of several years was retiring, and he gave us a list of about 6 names of doctors. To this day, I could tell you a thing about any of them, where they went to school, had they just become doctors after all that schooling, etc. So, I am talking to my doctor and said this. So, we had our doctor, who was retiring, to pick a doctor.

The 1st time I met our new doctor was in late January or early February of 2021, after 31/2 weeks in the hospital, intubated with COVID-19. My wife said they called her each day and said I was alive, but that it was touch-and-go. So, I go see this doctor and he says How are you feeling and I am still not feeling OK!! I also state that I had become incontinent!! He never checked me over, I assumed he read my file on the computer etc. The only thing he asked was Do I want a PILL?? after 10 maybe 15 minutes, OK bye. And this is basically how it went for 5 years, until late October I went to the Emergency Room for a Medical Issue. This young Female Doctor checked this olde fart over from head to toe and ran every test under the sun and was reading through my file. She sent me to get a brain Scan for as my issue was that I could describe it as only a possible stroke, and a scan of my abdomen. She found a growing Mass on the Bladder and also a growth on my Aorta Heart Valve. Now that being said, the doctors back in 2020 also found this and made a note, thinking that my Personal Physician would send me to the appropriate doctors to take care of the problems. My Personal Physician never looked at my hospital stay back in 2020 and missed these very important medical issues. I have sent and have the Bladder issue taken care of and now will start on my heart.

So, make sure your Doctor is paying attention to you and what other Doctors put in your file.