This is an open room of discussion. We discuss everything under the sun regarding our Diabetes. Do you believe medical professionals visit this site and actually learn from our conversations?
i am way too cynical to think doctors believe they aren’t God…
therefore, i don’t believe that (in their eyes) we can teach them anything. so, no.
(lol…bad dr. experiences)
Probably not. They are v very busy and I daresay that most of them are not even aware of Tudiabetes. None of my medical personnel had ever heard of it until I mentioned it to them as a worthwhile site for those working with / advising diabetics;; and they are well-read, competent, up-to date professionals in a metropolitan area…But this is a social network for Persons With Diabeets, and I doubt seriously that they look at it at all. My diabetic “team” was glad to hear about it, but I have no idea if they personally checked out Tudiabetes. They have not said and I have not asked…
God Bless,
Brunetta.
As a nurse, certified diabetes educator, I work with doctors in the hospital setting and am highly respected by them. They are very busy just trying to keep up with all the newest research studies and evidence based practice, new medications and treatment algorithms that I doubt very much if they have any time to come to forums like tudiabetes although I believe it would be well worth thier time.
I know my Dr checks in b/c he wants to learn more about the way we feel! I gave him the 4x6 cards and while I was standing there he came on the site “so I can learn more” I honered him so greatly when he done that! He has always cared about his D patients and always will. I’ve had him now for 26 years and he has always helped and was willing to learn about us.
To be honest, I don’t feel very comfortable with a lot of doctors coming here, anyway… The other forum, EsTuDiabetes, has various doctors and a nutritionist who seem to have nothing else to do with their time except overwhelm everything with their own posts, and criticize people for not following D control their own way of doing things, i.e., ADA diet standards… One of them even dead set on telling people how dangerous it is to have an A1C under 6%, all the time… And another doctor who was telling people to never say no to someone when they offer you a coffee, or a soda, because it’s rude! It’s uncomfortable to post anything… If they’re not gonna be open minded, they might as well not bother ruining the atmosphere for people. I left for those reasons… I had had enough.
I believe that professional could learn from us. You cannot learn everything from a book. Doctors really don’t have the time to carry on a conversation duaring our appointments. But this is a great read for someone that wants to understand what we deal with on a daily, lifetime bases.
Doris,
I am glad to here that your Doctor is open to this conversation. I am not expecting them to necessarily contribute to the conversation. But perhaps observe, listen and take into consideration feelings from his or her patients and use this experience in future interation with their patients. OMG! I must be dreaming.
There are any number of medical professionals, including doctors, who are members of TuD. Some are diabetics themselves, others are endos. and diabetologists that do not have diabetes. They said they are interested in learning how we feel and problems that occur with our maintaining good BS control. These unfortunately are a minority of doctors around the world.
Are you referring to a particular discussion you recall catlover that these people contributed to?
I’m also wondering if people would necessarily identify themselves as medical professionals on a website? I contribute to another psychologically oriented website where I rarely identify myself as in that field and am careful to speak from my own knowledge/experience without representing myself as an expert, because I’m not in that role. I have seen some people on other boards say " I am a doctor" in a way that makes me seriously doubt that fact…lol
Based on the number of things I’ve had to inform my “team” of, my bet would be that they don’t… However, that isn’t always a bad thing - sometimes they have suggestions I haven’t heard of because it’s not ‘popular’ on the Internet… those suggestions aren’t always bad.
I welcome new people, as a member of the Care Team. I read what they say to the questions all people answer when they join TuD. These people say they are a Dr. or a Nurse or an Endo or a Diabetologist, etc. They also say, sometimes, what they hope to gain as a member of the community, or what they hope to contribute.
Thanks for explaining, catlover and that is nice to hear even if these people are a minority.
I’ve spoken to 4 Drs on this site. I’ve seen about 3 others that I recall. They are all Members who have identified themselves and have left comments and/or spoken to us. I set up a meeting for Nel to meet one Dr. in Montreal last October. Most likely there are others reading but have not identified themselves. It’s not very likely that our own Drs. are reading this however since they are very busy. If the Drs.(Residents) aren’t busy, it would be a learning experience for them since they only usually listen to and learn from the Drs. on staff and the educational institute Professors, of course.
I think it’s Good that they hear what Patients are thinking about and wanting. That will help with their practices to understand their Patients Better and they will definitely learn a few things that they didn’t know before. There are also Professionals/students from some Universities, stats, etc. bending an ear on most medical Communities…
Hi Doris D’s doc! If you are reading, thanks for caring about us!
I am a little uncomfortable with this actually. If someone identified his or herself as a diabetes doctor or an endocrinologist, I would have a tendency to take his or her posts with a little more weight, when in actuality anyone can claim to be a doctor, or anything else. I am a newbie, and I am listening to everyone I can who can help me or tell me where and how to find something out. I think someone here self identifying as a doctor would be able to get in under my normally careful radar.
If there was a way that those who wished to post as a relevant medical professional had to send their bonafides to the administrators here for vetting, I would sure feel better about it.
Terrie, I agree ; the Doctor you are referring to went to the IDF conference and I went to the CDA NAGM and volunteered a few hours at the IDF Coference ; unfortunately we missed each other , too much going on , too little time …this reminds me …it is time to re-connect with the Doc .
Any person here can claim and pretend they are/are not for real …there has to be some trust ; if in doubt, don’t play with them .
I’ve spoken with three doctor members & they most assuredly are doctors. The admin team keeps a close eye on discussions & posts. People who are spammers, unethically misrepresent themselves or are trying to sell products are quickly recognized by the admin team & by members & are banned.
The last time I was in the hospital I meet my new endo and I was reading on the tu website and showed him and he knew about the site and reads it every now and then so he can better serve his patients in fact we read through some of the post together one day when I asked him about super bolusing.
I have left postcards and info about this site at all my medical prof. places of business, even the dentist. I would love to think that in the dark of night, when no one is looking, the take a peek, but then again, if they did we wouldn’t have so much trouble
getting them to understand our side of the “D” story.