Clearly there is a disconnect between doctors and patients, and an erosion of trust. The 45% of patients who think that doctors are adding on tests to increase their revenues clearly have never heard the two words “utilization review” or “economic credentialing”. Of note, the 45% who think that doctors overtreat “to meet patients’ demands” think that it’s the other 45% who are making the demands.
{ 2 } Comments
What you also have is a legibility issue. Not sure what kind of images you’re cutting and pasting, but they’re kind of fuzzy and hard to read (all of them.) I mean, you can figure them out if you work at it, but I haven’t had coffee yet, so I don’t feel like working that hard. I don’t mind thinking about images, but not having quite enough resolution to figure out what they say makes it less worth it (if you know what I mean.)
Dr. Blackman,
While I have a great amount of respect for the amount of schooling that a doctor must endure in order to become a practitioner, the primary reason that there’s a disconnect between patients and doctors is arrogance/hubris on the doctor’s part.
I worked in the communications department of a Boston hospital for about two years, and had to leave because I was stunned at the level of doctors’ arrogance and hubris.
I never worked in such a stifling, conservative environment where progress and patient care were secondary to doctors being published and obtaining grant money. Instead of focusing on moving cancer research from “bench to bedside,” doctors were far too engaged in heated competition for grant money and publishing bragging rights to share information between labs.
After my experience at this center, I’m not at all surprised that we’re still losing the war on cancer that Richard Nixon declared about 35 years ago. Patients aren’t stupid, and can sense this arrogance. This sense, combined with the fact that nurses tend to manage the daily care of patients, is why patients don’t trust doctors, and why they place Webcams in their children’s rooms. Quite frankly, I don’t blame parents for placing a Webcam in their child’s hospital room.
Post a Comment