NBC’s week inside the O.R. – when will primary care get its week?

The NBC Today Show is traveling around the country this week taking viewers “inside the operating room” to see various procedures.

Monday it was Cleveland and a heart arrhythmia procedure. Very high tech stuff.

Tuesday it was Boston and a baby born by C-section. Absolutely no news. Just drama and cute fat baby video.

An “Inside the Operating Room” series, of course, is going to make surgery and high-tech interventions seem dramatic.

I only wish we’d see a week-long series on primary care – doctors and nurse practitioners and RNs and others dealing with patients in shared decision-making encounters. Last week, at the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making’s annual research and policy forum, I talked with two health care consumers who truly exemplified the ideal of informed and shared decision-making. Mary Bianchi of Northern California talked about her breast cancer decision-making and Larry Forsberg of Minnesota talked about his BPH decision-making. I wish more Americans could hear more often (in news stories and elsewhere) from smart, informed patients and consumers like these two.

They may not involve high-tech interventions, but primary care encounters are where a lot of the rubber-meets-the-road health care happens – and where true health care reform might take place.

I’m not holding my breath to see that weeklong TV series, though.

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