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Three things that your doctor wishes you knew

Patients are frustrated and doctors are stressed.  Welcome to the modern U.S. healthcare system.  Doctor-patient communication is strained and neither side seems to understand the other.  I'm sure there are many things that you'd have your doctor do differently if you made the rules.  Here are some things that your doctor wishes you knew:

1.  Your office visit is scheduled for a defined period of time.  For a regular follow up visit you are probably scheduled for 15 minutes or less.  No matter how smart your doctor is, he can't create time out of air.  So if you have 25 minutes worth of questions to discuss in a 15 minute visit, where does the extra time come from?  Essentially, it is coming out of another patient's time bank.

2.  Being a doctor is tough.  The respect and adoration that doctors used to enjoy is largely gone.  Many people are cynical about doctors' motivations and imagine that they play golf all afternoon and drive fancy cars.  To some it seems like a cushy life.  In reailty, it is tough to become a doctor and it is at least as tough to sustain the necessary intellectual and emotional pace year after year.  Doctors-in-training endure years of a brutal schedule and regular humiliations at the hands of their supervisors.  They emerge weighed down by debt and emotionally exhausted.  Add years of dealing with human suffering, life and death decisions, nights on call and difficult conversations and you can see why doctors get annoyed when their patients suggest that they lead a cushy life.

3.  Your attitude makes a big difference.  Patient empowerment is a wonderful development that I highly encourage, but as with most things, those who are skilled at it do better than those who are not.  If you approach your doctor with an aggressive attitude that suggests his medical skills are lacking, he is highly likely to get defensive.  On the other hand, if you approach him or her with respect, you are more likely to find a willing partner.

The more doctors and patients can understand each other the better our relationship will be.

What do you wish your doctor know about you?

Dr. Chiaramonte