system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: You should not be required to visit a primary health care provider for an acute problem.

I have a ruptured eardrum and I had to wait 3 days for an appointment with the VA primary care doctor, who I knew would have to give me a referral to ENT. Sure enough, she said I had a ruptured eardrum and she would refer to me to ENT, which I am now waiting 3 weeks to see. All the while still having no relief of symptoms.

Primary care should be for checkups, preventive care, and health planning. Making PCP's "gatekeepers" for acute issues that need to be quickly resolved by specialists is a waste of time. If a patient can describe an issue over the phone that is obviously going to be a referral, then why make them visit the PCP to confirm that? Over the phone I could have said, "significant loss in hearing, blood tinged discharge coming from ear, occurred while blowing my nose" and they could have referred me immediately based off that description.
gpt
Being able to immediately schedule an appointment with a specialist would have saved you at most 3 days in the situation you described. They would not have been able to get you in immediately as there is still a large demand for their services. If people were allowed to just schedule things with them immediately it could lead to an even longer wait. While with your case your symptoms make it seem likely that you do have a ruptured eardrum, there's always the small chance that it's not. By seeing a primary care doctor first they are able to make sure that you are seeing the right person and that the specialist isn't getting people who have the actual condition they think they have. That could be the difference between a 3 week wait and a 4 or 5 week wait since allowing patients to immediately schedule with the specialist doesn't change how many people the specialist can actually see in a week.