General Medical issues thread

[Pushka]

It's just dumb and serves no purpose.
I'd rather a patient come for review having seen their results and subsequently having checked Dr google because they then come with questions.

One of these days (soon) there will be an AI Agent trained to interpret results and gives patients a list of questions to ask their Dr. Heck you could even train your own personal AI Agent/assistant to do that.

ChatGPT already does this. I have a list of questions from the results that are open and next week will finalise it when unlocked. The GP also uses Chat during the appointment. She does ask first but I’m totally onboard.

 

[VPS]

Unfortunately, the old days of family doctors are gone. These days, IME, while many GPs are good, many these days seem less so. Clinics are run for profits and doctors are under the pump. 15 min consultation but GP hasn’t read your charts or reports and analyse before you arrive (and many times hasn’t bothered to follow up reports from specialists you have been referred to) so means in essence maybe 13 minutes consultation and shallow discussion of symptoms, often leading to a long consultation and a $220 fee. If you can educate yourself (from good sources, nor CHATGPT only) in my opinion you can have a more productive discussion with the GP.

IMHO While I dislike AI Slop, good implementation of AI in medical diagnoses will be a good thing for both patient and medical practitioners. AI is already proving useful in analysis of various scans etc which alert the specialist to potential issues that may have been missed.

I just changed from a corporate to a private owned and much happier.

Each of the doctors made a decision that they will have 2 or 3 free appointments each day that are only bookable on the day.

My previous clinic I could rarely get to see my preferred GP for six weeks

 

[mrsterryn]

We go to a private doctors clinic which has probably twenty GPS , a couple of nurses , counsellors etc.

No bulk billing however if we go through the day it is $10 less . Though we would happily pay the standard rate. We can usually see our GP within a day or so , he is accessible for extra scripts , we can do zoom calls . He really does know our medical histories .

The service difference between this pay one (so to speak ) to the bulk billing one just up the road from us is massive

 

[Pushka]

So I wasn't going crazy at all saying that all tests were locked for me.

2. Time-Based Changes (Moving from 7 to 5 Days)
As of late 2025/early 2026, the previous 7-day delay for viewing pathology and imaging was reduced to 5 days, and in some cases, removed entirely to provide "faster access".

 

[drron]

We are not talking about using AI for a self diagnosis, we are talking about using AI/Search engine to better understand the official analysis of the results that a pathologist and/or specialist Doctor have provided ahead of GP appointment where you can then ask further questions.

I respectfully disagree with @drron that making sure you understand the medical language used is dangerous, as @Quickstatus said this isn't happening in a vaccuum but to help one better prepare for the discussion with the GP (or specialist) in follow-up appointment.

If qualified specialists/pathologists leverage AI to assist in timely diagnosis, there should be checks and balances from a real person to double check / verify the findings before these are shared with the patient and GP. But i see no harm in getting verified results at the same time as the GP and being able to prepare to ask the right questions at that follow-up appointment.

A patient or patients carer can be their own best advocate. Doctors like other professions also have unconscious bias and make assumptions, so sometimes you have to ask re alternatives or push for further tests or different referrals.

If my GP went by the standard recommendations because my poop test was negative and I didnt have any symptoms then a colonoscopy and gastroscopy would not have been indicated. But because one of my sisters and I both pushed due to family history and a desire to get a baseline, we were able to get the procedure before 50 and both had findings (polyps and lesions) that are now needing further investigation, so now our even younger sister will now be pushing for the same.

You have misunderstood my point. The point is many people misinterpret the answer they have found on google or Ai. So instead of getting the medical language made clear to them they indeed make a diagnosis.
In my career I tried to use non medical language when talking to patients.

There is another problem with medical advice. It has been shown many times that people interviewed soon after a consultation were wrong in what they thought they had been told. I often encouraged people to record the consultation making sure that I also recorded it if they did..

 

[Aeryn]

Sorry i disagree, the diagnosis is in the lab report not from google. Google doesnt have access to the pathology, but a definition of a word is a fact.

The reason some people dont take in everything the doctor says is shock, which is why if they have results in advance of consult they have had time to digest the result and research everything thing it says and prepare meaningful questions for their GP.

 

[drron]

Sorry i disagree, the diagnosis is in the lab report not from google. Google doesnt have access to the pathology, but a definition of a word is a fact.

The reason some people dont take in everything the doctor says is shock, which is why if they have results in advance of consult they have had time to digest the result and research everything thing it says and prepare meaningful questions for their GP.

Many look up Google and search their symptoms for a diagnosis. That is what I am saying. In my particular branch of medicine it was usual for the diagnosis to be made and then confirmed by the tests.
History was important. Then just looking at the patient and observing.. Next clinical examination by which time you should have the diagnosis 76% of the time.
Also no tests are-100% accurate. Any one who relies 100% on tests for the diagnosis is going to be wrong more often than they think.