I have been dealing with some medical concerns of my own the past couple of weeks and it reminds me that I need to have a good medical team that I can trust just as my husband does. My current Primary Care Provider is a Physician’s Assistant. She is competent but she only works 3 days a week and has coverage from other members of the clinic team when she is not there. It creates a rather piecemeal approach to care and is not really working well for me, yet I don’t know quite what to do.

This situation came to a head last week when I was having a problem with one of my medications and reached out for advice. My regular PCP was not there so I got to speak with one of her covering professionals, a Nurse Practitioner. We had a great conversation and created a treatment plan that included blood tests. When the test results came in, a different Nurse Practitioner interpreted them and made recommendations of her own that were contrary to what I had been told just 2 days before.

I spend a lot of time and effort attempting to make sure my husband has the best care available which can mean that I often don’t have the capacity left to face my own challenges. Yet, if I am not taking good care of my medical needs then how can I be at my best when he calls for help? It has been over a week now and I still haven’t heard a word from my actual PCP. I’ll be reaching out to the office manager later today to see if she can help me sort this out. If not, it may be time to step back and address building a new team for myself, if only I can find the time and energy.