A day in the life of a primary care physician

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kristin High
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  It's 8 a.m. and an Airman is sitting alone in an exam room. There is a knock at the door and a physician walks in. "What seems to be the problem?," he asks. The Airman coughs and
points to his throat. The physician reaches for a tongue depressor, "Alright, open wide and say 'AHH'."

All Airmen have been to the family health clinic at one point in their career, so this scenario should be very familiar.

"We see approximately 19 to 21 people a day per physician," said Capt. Mark Dudley, 2nd Medical Operations Squadron primary care physician. "I deal with viral infections, head colds, chronic diseases, sprains, back pain, depression, diabetes and even some obscure cases."

An average work day for a PCM is very busy spending at least 15 to 20 minutes with each patient.

"We start seeing patients around 7:40 a.m. every morning and we see them until 3:30 p.m. sometimes 4," said Dudley. "After that, it's administrative paperwork, addressing labs, pharmacy questions and refilling medications or any other patient concerns."

Due to the immense work load that PCMs take on, it's vital to have the correct training.

"College was four years. I received a master's in public health which took one and a half years. Post-Baccalaureate program was one year and medical school was four years, " said Dudley. "Residency after school was another three years."

Medical residency is essentially on-the-job training, just as any Airman would receive. The program emphasizes in-patient management of medical problems.

"During residency, we are assigned to one of five training bases," said 1st Lt. Jeffrey Marcotte, 2nd Medical Operations Squadron primary care physician assistant. "I went to Langley, where I had one-on-one patient care training while also studying because there are tests after every section of learning."

Marcotte was prior enlisted for five years before he was selected for the physician assistant program.

"It's an excellent program that people don't know about," said Marcotte. "The base education offices typically don't have a lot of information on the PA program so I'm getting the word out that it exists. There's so many young Airmen that want to work in primary care or treat patients but just don't know about the opportunity.

"Being a primary care physician assistant takes a lot of hard work and dedication but the satisfaction of helping someone is worth it," he said.