Dr. Welby could run his office with just himself and maybe a nurse or assistant. Hospitals are now populated with nurse practitioners, psychologists, dietitians, social workers, enterostomy specialists, physical, occupational and respiratory therapists and phlebotomists, to name just a few. Today, a visit to the doctor is about discovery and documentation of personal health related data. The questions are an impersonal listing of technical and physical bodily functions. It seems harder to slip in those wonderful pictures of the grandchildren which would make Dr. Welby chuckle in good humor.
Visits are shorter and return appointments more frequent.
Maybe the good Dr. Welby is difficult to find but he has not entirely disappeared. There are doctors and health care providers who still possess his wonderful compassion and listening skills. However the expense, the complexity and the organization of providing the myriad of services today calls for a person who can mange these different tasks in different ways. If your doctor treats you as a real person, listens to your complaints and problems, and allows you to participate in available choices, you have found Dr. Welby in today's form. Today's visit may be brief and technical but the exchange of information with a good doctor can still be genuinely open and caring.