Are you listening?

One of my patients was raving about me today to the staff. 'Oh Dr ifinding is the best doctor I've met! He really listens and treats me like a person!'

I think it has to be the saddest commentary on the profession of medicine that I was exceptional because I treated her like a human being. It's ridiculous, but we as a profession have really hurt ourselves. If we could just listen for a few seconds to what people tell us, then that would make all the difference. What earned me all this praise from this patient? She didn't want to take insulin more than once a day. That's it.

But there is a trick: she never said anything about concerns with insulin. That part I had to deduce. But is that really so hard to figure out?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your blog, dude. Just thought I'd let you know.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if that was reflective of the profession as a whole, or because you *are* a good doctor. Good job!

I love validation from my patients. They make everything worthwhile.

Sean said...

"...but we as a profession have really hurt ourselves"

How big of a paradigm shift will it take to get us to stop hurting ourselves???

Sean

Carol. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.