I am a member of quite a few facebook dog groups and I regularly notice people looking for a vet who knows a lot about greyhounds...
or a dog trainer who knows a lot about greyhounds.
Or new dog owners who think they need breed specific information about their boisterous puppy.
Or new dog owners who think they need breed specific information about their boisterous puppy.
I recently applied to do foster care for retired greys and I was assessed on my understanding of the breed rather than my heart for a dog ( I didn't meet their criteria because I couldn't make my fences higher but that is another story)
As a doula, I see people wishing for a doula who knows a lot about home birth
.....or gestational diabetes
....or a specific hospital.
I find all of this quite perplexing. A vet understands dogs very well, why should they know specifics about greyhounds? After all, they all have the same anatomy. A vet might have difficulty with a particular complex or rare diagnosis but ultimately, a dog is a dog.
A dog trainer knows about training dogs. Does the trainer need to know greyhounds? well, I don't think so. She might be more successful when she knows an individual dog but the expertise is not in a breed, it's in dog behaviour (and often the behaviour of the dog's humans)
A doula offers support to a family (mainly a mother) and needs not specialise in anything but support. The midwife knows about home birth, the endocrinologist knows about gestational diabetes. The doula isn't a medical person and has no need to advise on medical issues so the only skill needed is support. Individual understanding of a hospital can be handy but if I want to know where the blanket warmer is, I can ask. What I most need to know about the hospital is where to park and how to get to birth suite.
I sometimes feel like everyone these days thinks their problems are super special but really, the majority of us are individual but ordinary and deal with ordinary problems. We don't need dog trainers or dog walkers to specialise in a breed, we just want them to care about our dogs, know what they need to know and have a professional attitude. I don't need my postman to specialise in delivering to houses, I just need him to put my mail in my letterbox.
Do you feel like everyone these days wants a specialist?
I agree - I think 'specialisation' is a phenomenon that has been growing for quite a while but could very well have reached ludicrous proportions. As you've suggested - it might just be the expression of people thinking 'they' and their issues are special. I don't remember being told I was special as a kid, but now it's almost mandatory. Just another example of egos controlling whichever space they are currently inhabiting! I'm very tired of egos....
ReplyDeleteEgos are problematic!
DeleteSpecializing brings bigger bucks! That is it! However, some specialization is comforting to the purchaser of services. Plus, I use my specialty to advantage. It is in the degrees listed behind my names.
ReplyDeleteAt one place, I gained the title of "Math Specialist." That meant that no other person could do algebra and no one could teach the math they did know. Oh, I am an English teacher who learned to do trig.
I can see your frustration. I am not denying it or justifying the many specializations.
Why don't you specialize in greyhounds and capitalize?
If a person can establish a niche which makes their services more marketable, then that's good business. It's when the consumer thinks their ordinary thing needs a specialist that I find it a bit laughable. Of course, the specialist service providers have probably trained the consumers!
DeleteGood on you for specialising, we all need to protect our ways of earning a living
Sadly yes. And, unless your needs ARE specialised (which is often not the case) I think it is unnecessary. Practical Parsimony is right about the big bucks too. I saw a medical specialist last week (and yes I did need the expertise) but I paid for that expertise.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time I am very, very happy to be ordinary. (Just as well).
Specialists are very needed when they are needed and I have been frustrated at times by medicos who didnt know what they were doing. Specialist fees are probably worth it.
DeleteHaving said that, how come the local GP cared for most babies but now I see huge numbers of people wanting to tae their healthy chiild to a paediatrician?
Yes. Mind you I have seen a couple of specialists whose knowledge was no more current than the GP. I often wonder whether there would be the incredible waiting periods to see specialists if more discimination was applied to referrals. I suspect not.
DeleteWhenever my parcels aren't delivered they get a "specialist driver" to deliver them. I asked him why he was a specialist driver. He said "I've got no idea, maybe because I've got a bigger van?" That says it all.
ReplyDeleteYes, it really does
DeleteLOL!!
DeleteI am not a dog but, have had my share of encounters with specialists and still depend on my GP for advice and treatment. Only when he believes that I need to consult a Specialist do I go to one. Nowadays, the media is full of people who are all suddenly specialists on pandemics, lockdowns, economy and in our case in India, China. I find it quite amusing really.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say you see a specialist if the GP recommends it, I think thats what I struggle with, people who decide they need a specialist before they even ask the generalist
DeleteI agree with the commentor above specializing brings bigger dollars regardless of whether it makes the person better. It was a big trend about a decade ago. Perhaps it still is.
ReplyDeleteyes, i think it is still around and probably here to stay
DeleteI think we missed the mark completely by using intellect as a criteria for medical training rather than a compassion assessment. I have been seen by specialists who don't display a whiff of care but are simply analytical. The same with vets, etc.
ReplyDeleteI always assessed my dog carers by how they interacted with my dogs.
XO
WWW
I want my surgeon to pay attention to detail but it has to be balanced with bedside manner.
DeleteAnd for their own benefit they need to be compassionate because people are less likely to sue a person they like
I have mixed opinions about specialists. My kids all saw pediatricians when they were young, because the practice was geared to caring for small ones. And all the instruments were kid sized (ie lancets for finger pricks) Plus there were times when they would look at a rash and just say, yeah its a kid rash and not rush to test for something commonplace with kids.
ReplyDeleteI am like one of the commenters above. I was never told I was special so I never really thought I needed specialized anything. Obviously there are times when medical specialists are needed and it is great we have them, but the dog just needs a vet. My dry cleaner does not need to be a leather specialist. The bakery I use does not have to specialize in bagels, and the florist I use does not have to specialize in rose bouquets. We humans can complicate life much too easily.
You make good points about kid-sized implements and I know the US takes a different attitude where all kids have a paed but here generally healthy kids receive care from GPs or Early Childhood Centres
Deletehaha! isn't every dry cleaner a leather specialist??
I haven't really noticed this here. But it's interesting to read your post and all the comments and think about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing it's an international phenomenon among people of privilege, it will probably jump out at you now and you'll curse me!
DeleteI don't need a specialist, per se, for my dog, but I do expect my vet to know differences in maladies between breeds. For example, our little Abby is a mixture of Mexican Chihuaha and some kind of terrier (that I usually say Jack Daniels when what I mean is Jack Russell) and is subject to luxating patellas and tracheal collapse moreso than some other breeds. Does your greyhound get those? If that is specialising, then yes, I want a specialist. But I don't need to go to a chihuhua vet instead of a greyhound vet, no.
ReplyDeleteI hope I'm making sense.
Also, it's a definite first-world problem.
I get it, greyhounds get corns and bone cancers so you want a vet who looks for those things rather than diagnosing every limp as a sprain.
DeleteFirst world, yes!
I know precious little about vet specialists or dogs' medical needs. When it comes to my own body I prefer a physician or surgeon who has a bedside manner as well as specialist competence in what I need. I have been exceptionally fortunate in having both most of my life. However, when I needed my knee replaced the orthopaedic surgeon (a specialist obviously) was very confidence inspiring but had little 'bedside manner'. However when I'd had the operation he came into the ward at 11pm that evening to chat to those on whom he had operated that day, find out how we felt and was a different person.
ReplyDeleteDo we rely on specialists too much? Much of life is too complicated not to specialise. In my professional life one of the things I specialised in was planning inquiries. If I wanted to know anything about, say, taxation law then I asked someone who specialised in that. Horses for courses.
Hi Graham,
DeleteI'm not against specialists but I think some people have taken it to extremes.
I have also seen doctors who seem to have two different presentations and I decided in the end that they must have moods and bad days like the rest of us, it's just that we tend to expect what we encountered on first meeting
True, so many people think their problems are super-special when to many they're just ordinary problems. Like you, I wonder why people need all these obscure specialists. "I don't need my postman to specialise in delivering to houses, I just need him to put my mail in my letterbox." Indeed. Or a postman who specialises in large parcels or utility bills.
ReplyDeleteI love and hate humanity because of things like this!
DeleteHa Ha!! I'm going to have the idea of a specialist postman in my head for the rest of the day now!! Specifically one who specialises in delivering triangular shaped packages.
ReplyDeleteSx
I'm glad to have tickled your funny bone!
DeleteThe word specialist when applied to routine matters is the same as gourmet. Done to death and meaningless.
ReplyDeleteAlphie.
yes, exactly my thoughts! it took me a lot of words to say so :)
Delete