Having a primary care doctor to help guide you through medical issues that come up through the years is critical to taking the best care of yourself. A good primary care doctor provides not only routine care but a medical home and safe harbor whenever life confronts you with health scares or overwhelming diagnoses.

To learn more about the importance—and advantages—of having a primary care doctor, we spoke with Dr. Karen Hamad, Associate Chief Medical Officer for SMH's First Physicians Group Primary Care and Program Director for the FSU SMH Internal Medicine Residency Program.

“It's the connectedness,” she says. “It's the trust. It’s the month-to-month, year-to-year relationship that helps. If you have a relationship with a primary care doctor who knows you, who understands your values and knows where you're coming from, then navigating choppy waters can be a lot easier and help you reach the healthy destination you'd like.”

Primary Care is Preventative Care

The cornerstone of your relationship with your primary care doctor is the annual physical exam. During that visit, you can expect several baseline labs to be checked every year.

Bloodwork: through these annual labs, your doctor can keep an eye on cholesterol levels, blood sugar, liver function, thyroid function, iron content and more, looking for troublesome trends and heading off any potential problems before they even become problems.

“If your glucose is creeping up, that's something we can talk about before you need medication,” says Dr. Hamad. “If your cholesterol's creeping up, we can eliminate some fats from your diet or add oatmeal three times a week. We're trying to catch these things early, when there are things we can do with diet, nutrition, and lifestyle modification.”

The yearly check-up is also an opportunity for you and your doctor to discuss any age-related concerns such as osteoporosis prevention, cardiovascular risk prevention, and cognitive impairment prevention.

Perhaps most important, an ongoing relationship with your primary care doctor keeps you informed and on top of any and all cancer screenings applicable to you, given your age and medical history. That would include colon cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, and early lung cancer.

Primary Care Reduces Costly Visits to Urgent Care and the ER

Your primary care doctor isn’t just there for yearly check-ups and other forms of preventive medicine, but also to help whenever you suffer an illness or injury and need to see a healthcare provider.

If the need for treatment is not truly urgent, try giving your primary care doctor’s office a call. They may have immediate availability or even be able to help over the phone.

“Your primary care doctor is there to see you for all things, unless it’s after hours or there’s zero availability,” says Dr. Hamad. “That’s the entire point of having a primary care doctor.”

Remember: Your primary care doctor is your primary care option.

Primary Care is More Than Medication

Your primary care doctor is a resource providing much more than prescriptions and referrals.

Weight management, exercise and nutrition, sleep and stress management: all of these things have profound effects on your health and are key topics that your primary care doctor will address with you and that the two of you will tackle together.

As someone knowledgeable about and invested in your individual health, your primary care doctor will be best positioned to guide you through healthy lifestyle changes both safely and effectively.

Primary Care Creates Continuity of Care

Maintaining a relationship with a primary care doctor also creates what is called “continuity of care.” Simply put, it means being treated by a doctor who knows you and your broader medical history and can therefore bring that knowledge to bear during treatment.

Put another way, your health is your life’s story. The more your doctor knows about your story—past ailments, old injuries, allergies, family history, unsolved medical mysteries—the better care they can provide.

“For example, I have multi-generational families that I provide care for,” says Dr. Hamad. “And if I have the whole family in my practice, then I know the family history inside and out. Every time I check bloodwork, their weight, their general health and even their stress levels, I have a baseline to compare it to.”

In addition, a long-term primary care doctor is better positioned to notice subtle changes, such as cognitive impairment, or increased stress.

“Even if your spouse is the one who's having health problems but I've been taking care of you for 20 years, I can see how that's weighing on you,” says Dr. Hamad. “Continuity of care is critical.”

Looking for a Primary Care Physician?

Visit Sarasota Memorial First Physicians Group and find the provider right for you.

Hear more from Dr. Hamad in her latest appearance on SMH HealthCasts in the video below.

 

Written by Sarasota Memorial copywriter Philip Lederer, MA, who crafts a variety of external communications for the healthcare system. SMH’s in-house wordsmith, Lederer earned his Master’s degree in Public Administration and Political Philosophy from Morehead State University, KY, and has three primary physicians.