I worked as a phlebotomist at a teaching clinic, a health care clinic affiliated with a hospital where young doctors fresh out of med school do their residencies. There were about 20 residents, most between the ages of 20 and 27, and 5 supervising doctors, most of whom had been practicing for upwards of 25 years. Overall, working with the inexperienced doctors was a fantastic experience: they were cautious and methodical, careful not to miss anything, they were open to suggestions and willing to ask for help from their colleagues, and they didn't treat non-doctors like crap (which happens all too often in the caste system of the health care industry). Most of the residents made efforts to acquaint themselves personally with each patient, and often remembered the patient's name the next time he/she came in. I would highly recommend seeing a resident doctor, if only to help them learn or because it's significantly less expensive--it's a valuable experience for doctor and patient.

My experiences with residents were the opposite. Most of the residents I encountered over the years were arrogant and ignorant, completely dismissive of me as a patient. I suspect I now have a warning in my records, because I've had the same experienced physician for about 5 years now. I'm perfectly happy with him.

It's not like I don't give out big hints that I'm not as medically ignorant as the average bear. Shouldn't "I'm on a calcium channel blocker, felodipine, and it is metabolized via Cytochrome P450 3A4 so don't prescribe Erythromycin for me" be a BIG hint that I might know what I'm talking about?--or, "So why IS my serum potassium so low--the magnesium is fine, the calcium isn't high, I don't use corticosteroids, I don't have a moon face or hair on my chest, so we can rule out Cushing's and hyperaldosteronism..." In spite of this, residents treated me like someone in need of a condescending pat on the head who doesn't have a CLUE. I don't look forward to dealing with residents at some unknown future date.

Doctors are people, like everyone else. When patients who are medically educated come out, rather aggressively, with metabolic pathways, clinical research, and self-diagnoses, the physician is likely to be startled and defensive, and not react well. A simple "I'm pretty sure my felodipine reacts with erythromycin" would usually be enough to trigger that association in the doctor's mind without making him feel like a dufus for forgetting about it in the first place. Patients have a role in the patient-doctor interaction too, and a savvy patient can get the results he/she wants out of most doctors without negative interactions or conflict.

P.S. thank you to everyone willing to make the sacrifice of being a standardized patient or see a resident physician. Someone's gotta get the newbies trained up right!