Mission: Healing July 21, 2011 StepWisely(R) #1 Dr-Pt Relationship

PGY 39, Day 21
Patients First: Patient Safety First - the essence of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
How you can help your doctor to help you despite the Business of Medicine!

Business of Medicine = $$$
Profession of Medicine = Patient Care
The Business of Medicine is NOT The Profession of Medicine

How to Bridge the gap?

The other day I saw a blog ... something about how you can protect yourself when you need hospital care. For some reason that is beyond me, some folks think they can direct themselves, without PROFESSIOINAL MEDICAL guidance ... without a Doctor to find the best hospitals and health care. Of course, some of these folks are selling something.

Well, you can take care of yourself and protect yourself and your family to a certain extent by being smart, but the best thing you can do and the first thing that you should do is to find a doctor you can trust and establish a relationship with that doctor. Yes, the Doctor-Patient Relationship is #1 and still the key Optimal Patient Care. The next question is how do you find a good Doctor with whom you are comfortable and in whom you have confidence? That may be a bit more of a challenge for many reasons.

Regrettably, over the last 70 years (in the US) many factors have contributed to the decline of the Doctor-Patient Relationship, and I have seen things get much worse over the course of my career. The bottom line is this: over the last several decades and especially the last 25 years, the Business of Medicine has put multiple third parties between the Doctor and the Patient and some of these third parties have $$$ as their primary objective. Well, it would be OK, to have money as a primary objective, if pateint care is perfect, but some of these thirds parties will cut corners on patient care and patient safety to make more money(eg, Health Care Providers), or keep their money(eg, Health Insurance Companies). This is where the Doctor-Patient Relationship comes in. It is the responsibility and the sworn duty of physicians to take care of The Patient First and above all else to promote patient safety. This is an obligation that comes with the Hippocratic Oath ... the Oath that most, if not all Physicians take upon graduation from medical school, and this is a serious matter.

This oath creates the foundation of the Doctor-Patient Relationship, and it is essential to providing optimal patient care. Patient Care is never perfect, because the Science of Medicine is not perfect, but the physician's obligation remains and is based upon the best available science. Next, I will ... when I get to some high speed internet access, put the oath in here. In the meantime, think about what I have said and know that it boils down to Do the best thing possible for your patients at all times, do the right thing, and do no harm.

Do you have a relationship with a Trusted Doctor? If not, why not? If not, you need to find one. I will give you some tips here in the future, but for now, when you do see a doctor, make sure he/she graduated from medical school and make sure he/she took the Hippocratic Oath. Ask him/her what it means and how it is important to your relationship.

Ciao for now.
Dr. Mike