A primary care physician is in many ways the quarterback of health care, Knox Community Hospital physician Dr. Brent Nimeth told the Mount Vernon News.
“The primary care doctor can look at the symptoms, do a preliminary workup and generally get the ball rolling in the right direction and then coordinate getting the patient in to specialists as needed,” he said.
Most board-certified primary care doctors can treat many conditions themselves without the need for a specialist, Nimeth said.
“We can do skin biopsies,” he said. “We can do preliminary workups if patients are having symptoms, and sometimes you don’t need to move on to the next level.”
The primary care doctor, like the quarterback, can manage a patient’s health and help them navigate the health care system, which proves particularly valuable if the patient has several chronic conditions, Nimeth said.
“There’s really no other person who is pulling it all together,” he said. “You may have a heart doctor, a kidney doctor, a diabetes doctor.” All of the physicians are working together for your well-being.
Patients may see the primary care physician every three months or four months, depending on their conditions.
“The visits are designed to go over the medications, make sure you are on the least amount possible to still be effective, to see how you are feeling,” Nimeth said. “De-escalating medications is a skill and an art in and of itself.”
Regular visits to a primary care physician can lead to a longer life for patients and a better quality of life, he said.
“I have a lot of patients who are over 90 years old,” he said.
There are many ways that patients can improve their health that don’t involve doctors or drugs.
“In my view, the most important thing is movement,” he said. “I talk about this in every visit with every patient.”
Patients should have continuous movement at least three times a week for 20 minutes, Nimeth said.
“Everybody can do this,” he said. “I’ll tell people when they are 73 that I will tell them the same thing 20 years from now. You’ve got to be moving three times a week.”
