Which Trait is Not a Desirable Quality in Your Primary Care Physician?

A primary care physician is often the first line of defense when treating a patient. They usually make the initial contact with the patient and help direct them to the necessary specialist for further evaluation. Their primary responsibility is with disease prevention and risk detection.

There are over 37,000 primary care physicians currently working in the United States and they’re found in every town, neighborhood, city, and state. Most of them see an average of 11-30 patients per day and there’s an estimated 400 million primary care visits every single year.

Like any other field of study or industry, some primary care doctors are better than others. Some of them are more competent, more knowledgeable, more experienced, or simply have a better attitude than their counterparts. If you want the best care, you need to find the right doctor.

Which Trait is Not a Desirable Quality in Your Primary Care Physician?

In your search for the right primary doctor, you’re going to come across a wide range of different traits, qualities, characters, and attitudes. Every physician is different and every doctor has a unique set of beliefs, techniques, and methods. Not every doctor is the best doctor for you.

While it’s important that you know what to look for (which we’ll discuss later on), it’s also crucial you know what not to look for. You can think of these traits as ‘red flags’ that give you a sense of what’s to come. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest ‘red flag’ traits and qualities to watch for.

Presumptuous

When your primary doctor is presumptuous, they often jump to conclusions and often overstep their boundaries when treating patients. It’s very common for a presumptuous doctor to not give personalized, tailored care to each individual patient, which usually won’t produce lasting results.

Inattentive

It’s essential that your primary doctor is attentive. They need to be able to listen to your concerns and any symptoms their patients share with them. They also need to pay attention to your lifestyle, that way they can give valuable advice when preventing disease and keeping you healthy.

Discriminative

This might go without saying, but your primary care doctor shouldn’t be discriminative towards any human being – no matter their race, gender, age, or sexual preference. Everyone deserves real, honest, and professional health care and that’s what your primary doctor should offer.

Inarticulate

Doctors are extremely knowledgeable and experienced when it comes to the human body, but most patients aren’t. When your doctor is explaining something to you or going over test results, it’s important that they’re able to articulate it in a clear and concise way to avoid any confusion. Plus, you'll like have a lot of questions to ask your primary care doctor.

Too Busy

One of the major problems many patients face when seeing their primary care doctor is a lack of time spent with the doctor. In some cases, patients only have a couple of minutes with the doctor, which isn’t enough time to understand their symptoms and discuss their health.

What Should You Look for In a Primary Care Doctor?

The traits listed above are those you don’t want to see in your primary care doctor, but what about the traits you want to see? After all, you don’t want to spend too much time looking at all the negatives and you’ll eventually want to shift your focus to the positives and benefits.

Now that you know which trait is not a desirable quality in your primary care physician, you might be wondering which traits and qualities you should be on the lookout for – you can think of these as your ‘green flags.’ The more ‘green flags’ a doctor has, the better they are for you.

Knowledge & Experience

All doctors are knowledgeable, but it’s more how they apply that knowledge and utilize it to help treat patients – and that’s where experience comes into play. Doctors with experience have seen a wide range of issues and have helped a variety of unique patients – which is valuable in a doctor.

Communicative & Interpersonal

It’s important that patients are able to communicate with their doctor, but that also means the doctor needs to be communicative as well – it’s a two-way street. They need to have great interpersonal skills and be able to work together with the patient to maintain health long-term.

Organization & Structure

Research suggests that most primary care doctors today see an average of 11-30 patients per day. Each patient is going through something entirely different, which means primary care doctors have a lot of information to process. If they’re not organized and structured, they won’t be able to give 110% to each patient.

Bedside Manner & Empathetic

Bedside manner is a doctor’s approach and attitude toward a patient. Being able to comfort a patient and make them feel welcome is a valuable trait for any doctor to have. Since these are patients they’ll likely see regularly, they need to be able to build a lasting relationship with each patient.

Passionate & Persistent

Passion goes a long way, no matter what industry you’re in. If you’re not passionate about your work, then you aren’t going to give everything you have to give -- and that's an important quality in a primary doctor. And persistence is key in a doctor because it means they won’t give up on your health and will be by your side through it all.

What Can Dr. Shaun Jang Do for You?

Are you looking for a primary care physician that checks off all the boxes? What about a doctor that’s dedicated to giving each patient the care and treatment they deserve? If so, then you’ll feel right at home with Dr. Shaun Jang at Good Samaritan – our service is unmatched and unrivaled.

At Good Samaritan, we take pride in serving the Las Vegas community with exceptional primary care services. With our help, you can put your mind and body in a better place moving forward. Keeping you healthy is our No. 1 priority, so contact us today to schedule your first appointment! We can’t wait to give you the care and treatment you deserve!