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“And They Wonder Why Patients
Have Become
Their
Adversaries”
Tramp on the holy ground of patient
confidence and you will reap the vengeance of
an intolerant soul. Can the success of a
doctor’s medical career be determined by the
few minutes they’re with a new patient in the
exam
room? Absolutely!
Some doctors haven’t
a clue!
What a disturbing day it was for this
physician who accompanied his wife to her
consult appointment with the Rheumatologist.
It wasn’t the questionable quality of advice
that he gave. It wasn’t the fragmented
attention he gave to her problem. It wasn’t
the lack of compassion he showed for the
suffering my wife was having.
It all had to do with attitude. Non-verbal
communication is often more powerful than
words. The shame comes when a doctor’s peer
(another doctor) witnesses the recoil of the
patient. Either the doctor’s sense of what
was happening to the patient in those few
minutes didn’t matter to him, or he
didn’t
care!Consider
these offenses he committed during that
visit:
-
Continual and repeated
interruptions of my wife's answers to
his
questions.
-
Not understanding his
broken English was a severe barrier
to
communication.
-
Repeated antics showing
my wife and me he was in a hurry.
-
Verbally leaving my wife
with no hope for treatment success
efforts.
-
Talking “down” to my
wife.
Medical doctors
whose practice methods include one or more of
these are insulting their patients and
downgrading the profession. Now look at what
these mean to a patient.
-
Interruptions:
Have you ever spoken with someone who
second guesses each thought you are about
to say, interrupts you in the middle of
your sentence to arrogantly answer what
they have guessed is your upcoming
question? Don’t you get upset?
And if it continues, do you automatically
“clam up?” Doctors who don’t listen,
lose patients. Patients are shortchanged
in their medical care.
-
Language issues:
Foreign doctors commonly don’t seem to
“get it.” They think that speaking
English rapidly, as they speak in their
primary language, is easy for patients to
understand who don’t speak their
language.
Patients are intimidated by that. Most
won’t ask the doctor to repeat it over
and over until they understand what was
said. Don’t you think that these doctors
would understand that they must speak
slower to be understood?
-
In a hurry: It’s
perfectly clear to the patient that a
doctor who never takes a second to sit
down, talks rapidly, talks with their
hand on the exit door knob, and paces
around in the room that their own time is
more important than their time with the
patient---and patient care.
Doesn’t that doctor know that they are
saying to the patient, “Don’t bother me
with all your medical questions and
problems!” Isn’t that “poor” health
care? Absolutely!
-
No hope: Doctors
who are in a hurry rarely take time to
explain things to patients. Quick and
short answers always leave patients with
an uncomfortable feeling about the
doctor’s knowledge and expertise.
Usually, there is very little discussion
(and no time taken) about possible other
treatments, new medications to use that
might help, and the future new
advancements in treatment of the
patient’s medical condition. It sends a
message to the patient that, “Sorry,
you’ll just have to live with the
illness---there aren’t any alternatives!”
-
Talking down:
Patients in this generation are well
informed about medical illnesses and
treatment possibilities. If a doctor
doesn’t take the time to find out how
much the patient knows and understands
about their medical problem, how can they
fit their treatment to the patient? They
can’t.
The alternative to fitting the treatment
to the patient is “dictating the
patient’s treatment.” And that assumes
the patient is ignorant. Fitting the
treatment to the patient is to insure
they will follow instructions and believe
in the appropriateness of the diagnosis
and treatment. If the doctor orders you
to take the medication, even if you
became nauseated the last time you took
it, would you follow it? I hope not!
If this were just a rare
set of circumstances in medical care, one
could overlook it all without judgment of
the whole profession. But, it’s
commonplace. So we are forced into the
realities of the deficiencies of doctors
and health care delivery.
Solution:
Seek higher ground. Keep changing
doctors until you find one who understands
what patients need and want. One that feels
and senses what good health care is all
about.
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The
author, Curt Graham, is a
retired medical doctor who has
written extensively on many topics
over his 35 plus years in active
medical practice. He has been
published in Modern Physician, and is
credited as an “Expert Author” by
EzineArticles.com web directory as
well as the elite website
SelfGrowth.com.
Learn strategies
and tactics for avoiding the
healthcare barriers you face almost
daily, and obtain top medical care in
the process. Go there now!
http://www.healthcaresecretsrevealed-finally.com
Please feel free to copy, send, or
distribute this article as long as
the article is not changed, and the
author resource box is included with
the article as written.
Copyright 2007, L & C Internet
Enterprises, Inc., Curt Graham, MD.
All Rights Reserved.
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Word
count = 739
Keywords
= doctor, medical doctor, health care,
medical problem, medical care, poor health
care, medications, medical treatment, medical
illness, medical condition.
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