Guest misagh Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Hello, Remember that show "The Cosby Show"? Cliff Huxtable had his own private practice running out of his home-office. Even though Dr. Huxtable was a gynecologist (right?) I'm assuming that normally family physicians are more wont to do the home practice thing... are there other specialties that can have this sort of arrangement? I'm curious as to the pros and cons... I can imagine security would be one con, as would the fact that with any private practice you have less flexibility when it comes to last-minute cancellations or postponing of appointments. But, it seems to me that running a practice out of one's home cuts a lot of costs and perhaps allows for more time at home with family and perhaps more flexibility in working hours. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a physician who currently does this, or if any pre-med/med students are currently thinking of doing this. What are your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve U of T Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 As I recall, Dr. Huxtable's primary role as a physician was delivering babies, suggesting he was an Ob/Gyn, but I seem to remember mention of him being a pediatrician. Anyways, I've certainly seen residential homes with signs indicating that there is a medical practice there. I am not sure if the houses are fully converted into a doctor's office, or if they simply used part of the house for that. There are zoning issues you would have to deal with if that is what you want to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest coastal79 Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 It would cut costs, but I wouldn't want to do it. I need some separation between home and work. My girlfriend and I worked together last year and it was kind of strange because we saw each other 24/7 and had all the same work friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest byjude Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Yeah, as coastal mentioned, I think that having a home practice might be more enjoyable in theory than in practice. In many ways it would probably be like running any business out of your home - especially a business that involves regular client visits (eg, tax and insurance services, doctor, lawyer, etc). From what I've read about home-based business, many people find the seperation between work and home to be a necessity. However, this really depends on your personality, and the necessity of having a specific work space VS home space could be an advantage compared to other people who, say, do IT work or journalism from home in the middle of the family living room. In that sense, it could be really convenient, having the psychological seperation of space (doctor's office, separate entrance) combined with the proximity to home. That said, I don't know any examples of people running medical practices out of their home - though I'm sure it must happen somewhere. I've seen doctors' offices in older houses in downtown regions, but I don't think they actually live there, it's just a house that has been divided into an office and apartments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 I'm curious as to the pros and cons... I can imagine security would be one conPhysicians in general are pretty protective about their private life and private time. Most physicians won't give out their pager number or home phone number; you can imagine the consequences of patients knowing where you can be reached at all hours of the day and night... Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Natalia22 Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 My pediatrician used to work out of her house. She had converted her basement into the clinic, complete with reception area, waiting room and two examination rooms. Although I am sure it was very convenient for her, seeing as she didn't have to travel far to work or find a sitter for her kids, like other people mentioned there is no real seperation between work life and private life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marbledust Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 When I was young I had a family doctor whose office was the basement of his house. It was a small town and he is now retired. I don't know of any other doctors that have followed this model. His reason for doing it was he was a single parent and it allowed him to spend time with his kids - he was very ahead of his time! I guess in a small town where everybody knows where you live anyway and your home number is in the phonebook there are different expectations around privacy. Having a home-based office wasn't a privacy issue for him. Most city-based physicians I know would have a cow with this. I don't know if his patients abused this accesibility or not. I am assumming not as he ran his practice this way for over 20 years. He used to actually drive and pick his older patients up if they didn't have transportation to their appointments. They don't make family docs like this anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest byjude Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Ian raises a very good point. If your patients visit your home for appointments, then they know where you live - and they may want to come to see you at all hours of the day for emergencies. If you're fine with that, or if you live in a small town, then having a home-based clinic may make sense. But if you don't want people calling on you at all hours of the day - then it makes sense to work out of the home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CaesarCornelius Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 Maybe this kind of set-up makes more sense in a small town? CC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marbledust Posted April 20, 2004 Report Share Posted April 20, 2004 I would think that if a doctor was going to do this, it would make sense to do it in a small town as oppossed to a city. I am going to make a generalization here, but depending on the size of the town, you are going to know your patients much better when you see them regularly in the grocery store, post office, your kid's hockey games, etc as oppossed to a city where you don't see them outside of your practice. There is more a sense of familiarity and maybe trust, and your patients knowing where you live isn't likely to be the issue that it would be in a city. Not that probems can't arise in small towns. There would be some nice advantages to running a practice from home, although I think I would go stir-crazy spending all my time in one place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cutieyellow Posted April 21, 2004 Report Share Posted April 21, 2004 My pediatrician used to practice out of his basement. I think he still does this in fact. He used to wake up in the morning, walk down the stairs and there was his office, full with waiting room, secretary, 2 exam rooms and complete bathroom and toys for kids He was a great pediatrician and i think it was really convenient for him to work that way, hours were flexible and definitely saves on gas ! Anyhow, all of this was done in Montreal, hence the CITY! And it works just fine. I guess he never gave out his home number, and didn't answer doors ?! Then again, i dunno if he was ever harassed. All i can say however, is that it always seemed to be like such a convenient way to function. I would love to work like that. Although i am aware of the security factors, it really depends on where you work and the world surrounding you. I don't really think it's that much of a combining of home and work, because theoretically, my spouse would be working as well, and thus i wouldn't be with him 24/7. The basement just becomes a separate entity i guess. CY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ploughboy Posted April 21, 2004 Report Share Posted April 21, 2004 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 As an aspiring rural physician I hope to include a small office in my house if I ever get a chance to practice medicine. It wouldn't be my main office, but the idea would be to schedule a couple of afternoons or evenings a week of quick and easy stuff like prescription refills, physicals, stitch removal and the other little things that pay the bills. I'm hoping this would free up time at the office for more serious patients. Since I'm not really familiar with the day-to-day operation of a family practice I don't know how practical this would be, but it's something that's in the back of my mind. Of course, I'd also like to do one day a week of house-calls, but I don't think that'll ever be practical... It'd be very important to make it clear to patients that just 'cuz I'm at home doesn't mean that I'm working. Since I hope to work in an environment where everybody will know where I live and what I do anyway, drawing this boundary will be something I'll have to do regardless of whether or not I practiced at home ("if it's 4AM and you're having chest pains, don't drive over to my house - call an ambulance!"). Ya, there'd be probably be a few zoning issues to work around. Since my dream house is an off-grid, Earthship-y thing, getting a zoning change so I can include a small office will be the least of my worries. My biggest concern would be having sick people coughing and sneezing into the same ventilation system that my family relies on. I realize there's not a huge practical difference between that situation and me coming home from the office or hospital after inhaling germs all day, but it's still a consideration. I guess it depends on one's field of practice too. A while ago I read something in a telecom industry rag about some radiologists (?) who work out of their homes several days a week. They'd get pictures of people's insides zapped down the wire to their house, make the diagnosis and go back to playing with their kids. Sounded like a sweet setup. pb -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (MingW32) iD8DBQFAhtPt/HNgbK3bC2wRAqPIAKCIxqn+zPvnDr0ug7+sJnoHeJFjAgCfROy1 xD3T6H91Bqdx0J6F9j7PRuw= =4prm -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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