![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I wonder what percentage of people in the U.S. have a specific person who is their "primary care physician" or "family doctor". I don't, and I don't recall ever having had one. When I was a child, we moved too often to have much of a history with any specific medical care providers. We went to the military hospital for any medical care. I have no clue how to go about finding a good PCP, nor what to do with one. It doesn't seem worthwhile to me to spend time and effort going to see a generic doctor who will just tell me that I need to go see some other specialist doctor for the thing which is ailing me.
On the one hand, it does seem like it could make things easier, if the PCP got you an appointment with a specialist without you having to look for a specialist yourself. On the other hand, you might get stuck with some specialist you don't particularly care for (not to mention that you might not particularly care for the person you chose for your PCP either... and if you only go to the doctor once every few years, how many years and doctors would it take before you found one you liked?)
Yet so often medical advice says that you should start by seeing your PCP or family doctor (they don't say to go see "a" primary care physician or "a" family doctor; they say to go see "yours"). Why do they assume you have one?
On the one hand, it does seem like it could make things easier, if the PCP got you an appointment with a specialist without you having to look for a specialist yourself. On the other hand, you might get stuck with some specialist you don't particularly care for (not to mention that you might not particularly care for the person you chose for your PCP either... and if you only go to the doctor once every few years, how many years and doctors would it take before you found one you liked?)
Yet so often medical advice says that you should start by seeing your PCP or family doctor (they don't say to go see "a" primary care physician or "a" family doctor; they say to go see "yours"). Why do they assume you have one?