Being a patient is scary. You tell your secrets, your story to a stranger. You submit your body to be probed, prodded and cut open. You trust them with your life.
There are a thousand things that you must want to know about them. Are they qualified to take your case or have they just 'bought' a degree? Are they competent enough? What is their complication rate? How many cases like yours have they operated? Are they receiving 'favors' from drug companies? Will they keep your information/malady confidential? Are they receiving kick backs to prescribe certain tests?What are their values? What motivates their treatment: only financial gain or a need to see you get better; irrespective of what they 'make' out of it?
But, in reality, patients know none of this. All they know is your name, hospital association and maybe some feedback from some old patients.
In India, doctors traditionally were put on a pedestal. The treatments they doled out were partaken unquestioningly.Doctors are Gods on earth, believed the previous generation. So, they never felt the need to 'know' their 'Gods' better. Because, back then, 'God' could not be chosen.
But now I would want to choose my doctor. For me, it is relatively easy. If I have to choose a doctor from surgical specialty, I will ask my anesthetist friend. If medical, I will ask my pathologist or radiologist friends. Of course its not fool proof, but I have it better than the lay person.
It must be just a game of dice of the rest of us. Choosing who you entrust your life and limb only on basis of someones opinion of them or their proximity to where you live sounds quite risky.
Its also quite unfair to the competent young ethical doctor who was not born into big money, because you may never reach him.
But internet is the big game changer here. Now you have access to your physicians degree, their experience, their linkedin profile, their website, their reviews. Also their blogs, their surgical videos. So now, you can actually know what they are, largely, before you decide to visit them.
Before you decide on treatment, you can search the alternatives on internet and discuss with them.
Sadly, there remains much more to be disclosed. Vested interests in drugs and therapies, funded research, kickbacks for referral, medical errors, hospital acquired infections and many more things need to be uncovered and out in the open.Look at this interesting concept from the USA about knowing doctors better.
Doctors , actually stand to benefit out of disclosing everything to the patients. We hide behind charts, medical jargon and our white coats. We build a wall around us, because, deep down, our patients scare us. We know that we are only human. We cannot ensure that everybody gets well, or everyone lives or that no 'bed' breaks. But we can ensure that we put ourselves out there in the open, tell everyone what we are, what we do best and what we do not. And in the process, accept our limitations, showcase our achievements and accept that 'we the doctors' and 'them the patients' are on the same side.
To quote Leana Wen, who inspired this blogpost " I leave you today with a final thought. Being totally transparent is scary. You feel naked, exposed and vulnerable, but that vulnerability, that humility, it can be an extraordinary benefit to the practice of medicine. When doctors are willing to step off our pedestals, take off our white coats, and show our patients who we are and what medicine is all about, that's when we begin to overcome the sickness of fear. That's when we establish trust. That's when we change the paradigm of medicine from one of secrecy and hiding to one that is fully open and engaged for our patients." Do you know your doctor?
There are a thousand things that you must want to know about them. Are they qualified to take your case or have they just 'bought' a degree? Are they competent enough? What is their complication rate? How many cases like yours have they operated? Are they receiving 'favors' from drug companies? Will they keep your information/malady confidential? Are they receiving kick backs to prescribe certain tests?What are their values? What motivates their treatment: only financial gain or a need to see you get better; irrespective of what they 'make' out of it?
But, in reality, patients know none of this. All they know is your name, hospital association and maybe some feedback from some old patients.
In India, doctors traditionally were put on a pedestal. The treatments they doled out were partaken unquestioningly.Doctors are Gods on earth, believed the previous generation. So, they never felt the need to 'know' their 'Gods' better. Because, back then, 'God' could not be chosen.
But now I would want to choose my doctor. For me, it is relatively easy. If I have to choose a doctor from surgical specialty, I will ask my anesthetist friend. If medical, I will ask my pathologist or radiologist friends. Of course its not fool proof, but I have it better than the lay person.
It must be just a game of dice of the rest of us. Choosing who you entrust your life and limb only on basis of someones opinion of them or their proximity to where you live sounds quite risky.
Its also quite unfair to the competent young ethical doctor who was not born into big money, because you may never reach him.
But internet is the big game changer here. Now you have access to your physicians degree, their experience, their linkedin profile, their website, their reviews. Also their blogs, their surgical videos. So now, you can actually know what they are, largely, before you decide to visit them.
Before you decide on treatment, you can search the alternatives on internet and discuss with them.
Sadly, there remains much more to be disclosed. Vested interests in drugs and therapies, funded research, kickbacks for referral, medical errors, hospital acquired infections and many more things need to be uncovered and out in the open.Look at this interesting concept from the USA about knowing doctors better.
Doctors , actually stand to benefit out of disclosing everything to the patients. We hide behind charts, medical jargon and our white coats. We build a wall around us, because, deep down, our patients scare us. We know that we are only human. We cannot ensure that everybody gets well, or everyone lives or that no 'bed' breaks. But we can ensure that we put ourselves out there in the open, tell everyone what we are, what we do best and what we do not. And in the process, accept our limitations, showcase our achievements and accept that 'we the doctors' and 'them the patients' are on the same side.
To quote Leana Wen, who inspired this blogpost " I leave you today with a final thought. Being totally transparent is scary. You feel naked, exposed and vulnerable, but that vulnerability, that humility, it can be an extraordinary benefit to the practice of medicine. When doctors are willing to step off our pedestals, take off our white coats, and show our patients who we are and what medicine is all about, that's when we begin to overcome the sickness of fear. That's when we establish trust. That's when we change the paradigm of medicine from one of secrecy and hiding to one that is fully open and engaged for our patients." Do you know your doctor?
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