Here’s what an M.D. really wishes you knew

My physician, Dr. Karen Mo of UC Davis Medical Group for almost 22 years, has a few things she asked me to tell you. Chief among them is this: “We’re not trying to block you from getting good care.”

She brought this up to me in part because I’d sent her a request for a referral to a gastrointestinal doctor. I’ve had heartburn every single day since I was pregnant with my now 26-yearold son, and I’ve been pretty half-assedly addressing it since then.

So I sent Dr. Mo a message via MyChart and asked if she’d hook me up with a GI doc. She kindly said she needed to see me first, and then told me she’d love to help explain to me (and to you, via this column) why.

Take it away, Dr. Mo.

“For starters, I could get you on my schedule next week. A referral to a GI doctor will take a few months.” Also, there are things that can be and need to be tried in the time before seeing that GI doc, which could very well help me. If Dr. Mo were to pass me along to a specialist without having given me an exam or trying basic interventions, that GI doc is going to say, “’What’s the matter with you, Karen Mo? You haven’t even done what you should have!’ They (specialists) need a lot of things tried before a patient comes to them.”

She continued, “For a good appointment with a specialist, you need to have done certain things. I want to get you good care.”

On that topic, Dr. Mo also wants to make sure people understand, “I’m not trying to fill my coffers by seeing you.” Most doctors have more than enough patients, she said, due in part to a shortage of primary care medical professionals that resulted from many people leaving medicine during the pandemic. But truly, she said, “Seeing your primary care doctor, actually having an appointment, is good. We’re trying to organize your care plan, get you to the right place and the right tests.”

Dr. Mo also understands that the health system is a little tricky to navigate, and many patients are frustrated when they call the office. Aside from remembering to be kind to whomever answers the phone, she also suggests talking to a triage nurse who can expedite your appointment, when needed.

Oddly, she said, people often don’t want to talk to a nurse who can help decide the level of urgency: “They only want the doctor’s opinion,” she said. “I’ve actually read messages at the end of the day, after I’ve been seeing patients all day, that say ‘Patient is having chest pains, didn’t want to talk to the nurse.’ I understand that you are afraid, and you are trying to maneuver a sys- tem that isn’t working for you, but don’t say ‘no’ to this (talking to a nurse).

“If you call our operator,” Dr. Mo continued, “and say ‘I have symptoms I need to discuss with a nurse,’ you will be transferred or called back. And you will get the help you need.”

And tell me, Dr. Mo, how helpful is it to you when people come to you having Googled their symptoms and telling you they know what their problems are?

“Me laying eyeballs on the person and being in the room with the person gets rid of many of the diagnoses of Dr. Google,” she said. The best patients can do is come to their doctors with a list of symptoms and let him or her use the medical knowledge they have to determine next steps.

“Can you please not tell me what you think your diagnosis is, and can you instead share with me your symptoms?” she asked.

To further illustrate the point, Dr. Mo said, “Let’s say I go online, I type in my symptoms, and I think I figured out what I