Age and Experience Trumps Modern Technology

Paul A. Goldberg MPH, DC, DACBN, DCBCN
Founder and Consultant to The Goldberg Tener Clinic
Chronic Disease Reversal

I am proud to have a practice that is “old fashioned” in many ways. Older doctors with traditional skills are now hard to find. The old family doctor generally cannot afford to practice as they used to in an insurance-based world. If you do find a good old-fashioned doctor to help you overcome your health issues, however, keep them as they are rapidly approaching extinction.

Old fashioned doctors don’t rush through patient visits. They do not have so called “volume practices” and don’t work for large practice entities/clinics that demand they “see” a certain minimum number of patients per day as is now commonplace.

Experienced doctors understand the importance of creating a caring bond and listening to their patients. The patient usually has a good idea about what is wrong with them if we listen to them and ask the right questions. The experienced doctor cares about each person as an individual and gathers the information needed to arrive at the causal factors behind their illness. The experienced doctor need not rely on titles such as “Functional Medicine” nor do they need to title patients with names for their symptoms such as adrenal fatigue, yeast issues, SIBO, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome while ignoring the actual environmental, nutritional, hygienic, toxicological issues that are behind the patient’s problems.

Allowing the time to listen carefully and using interviewing techniques based in clinical epidemiology that we are trained in, initiates the road to good care from the doctor and outstanding results for the patient. Strict limits on time is the enemy in many offices. We allow 90 minutes of time, with two doctors in attendance, for each new patient, limiting ourselves to four new patients per day. Yes, it takes that much time on the first visit to gain an understanding of the patient.

Experienced doctors personally examine patients. They use their hands, their eyes and their ears. The quality of the physical exam varies among doctors. It is an area that AI and modern technology will never substitute for.

Doctors with experience and sound academic training have years of different challenges under their belts. Their ears listen to the sounds of the body particularly in our clinic, when we auscultate the abdomen for bowel sounds and discern when something is not right. Their eyes pick up physical imbalances that affect isolated areas or the entire body. They see and hear the social and emotional stresses affecting the health of the patient, and nuances of body language—even if not verbally expressed. Carefully listening to the patient and their story is the start and blends into the physical examination and laying on of skilled hands. Even taking the blood pressure should be done by the doctor him or herself, using a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff. Eyes are looked into, joints are felt, the musculature is tested, the ailing parts the patient complains of are examined with care as well as associated areas… all is done by the doctor, not an assistant, not a nurse, but by the doctor that is going to work with the patient.

Experienced doctors understand and order relevant lab tests. They have studied laboratory testing and have experience using them. In our case, teaching laboratory analysis to health care students and having been a consultant to two major laboratories adds to our ability to utilize laboratory tests in a productive fashion. Experienced doctors interpret and discuss the tests personally with the patient rather than putting the results on a web portal for the patient to review themselves. No test is conducted unless the doctor knows what steps to follow up with should the test prove abnormal. The results of the test are always considered in relationship to the patient’s history and physical examination.

Read Article: https://goldbergtenerclinic.com/blog/the-medical-insurance-trap/

Experienced doctors do not bend to the will of insurance companies. We refuse to allow an insurance company to determine the course of care based on a formula derived from the name of the patient’s symptoms (read “The Medical Insurance Trap”). Getting patients well and reversing their chronic disease conditions is a full-time endeavor without battling insurance carriers.

Experienced doctors follow through with patients. Every patient deserves our full attention to help them recover their health. When the doctor and the patient share the journey, the successes are celebrated and where progress is not being made it is noted and new or additional tactics are applied so progress can be made.

Time alone of course does not make a good doctor. It means continuing to learn from one’s experiences so that we become more knowledgeable and capable over time.

Modern technology has its place but does not take the place of the experienced, skilled and caring doctor interacting personally with you. We make it our task to know our patients and with good detective skills, developed over decades of practice, identify the causes of each person’s illness, address those causes, create the conditions for healing and restore each person to good health in a skilled, compassionate manner. Shown below are before and after pictures of patients from our clinic illustrating the excellent results that are possible.