A family doctor in Andover, Kansas often is part of a patient’s healthcare team when that person has a serious chronic health problem. These patients typically rely on both a specialist and a general practice doctor to maintain their quality of life and stay as healthy as possible. They may include complementary practitioners such as massage therapists too. Examples of serious chronic disorders include rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes.
The Role of the Family Doctor
These patients will work with their specialist physician to manage their autoimmune and metabolic disorders and seek assistance from the primary care doctor to maintain overall health and address other issues. A family doctor in Andover, Kansas is the healthcare provider that a patient sees to treat and monitor high blood pressure, and for diagnosis and treatment of a strep throat or ear infection.
Building a professional relationship with a doctor at a clinic such as Wichita Family Medicine Specialists LLC is advantageous. The doctor and patient now both have consistency with the medical history and their discussions about maintaining excellent health. This is the doctor who will counsel the patient if this person is gaining too much weight or is starting to develop high cholesterol.
If the patient ever must be hospitalized for any reason, the primary care doctor typically checks on this person at least once each day during hospital rounds. The patient may have just had a baby, needed an operation or experienced a severe health episode such as a stroke. The family doctor is still the primary care physician no matter what is occurring.
The Initial Diagnosis
A primary care setting is commonly the place where an initial diagnosis of a serious chronic disorder is made. A patient is experiencing frequent swelling and pain in the hand joints, for instance. He or she goes to the family doctor, expecting treatment for osteoarthritis. The family care doctor realizes that the symptoms are more in line with the autoimmune form of arthritis. This physician may order blood tests and X-rays at this point to support the diagnosis, after which the doctor will refer the patient to a rheumatologist.
