In medicine today, some of our reimbursement or pay is based on how satisfied you are as a patient with your care and service. If you are not happy with my care you can give me low scores on the survey sent to determine your degree of satisfaction. This will give me less money to take care of myself and my office staff and makes it more difficult to give you good care. Much of what we do now in medicine is aimed at making you happy, not necessarily at helping you be well.
Dr. Simons gives an extreme example of a patient being unhappy about not being able to eat before going to surgery. Let’s talk about patients who think they need surgery or patients that think they need antibiotics and do not. Whether you need surgery or antibiotics are medical decisions. These are decisions made based on facts and interpretation by a doctor or other medical professional, someone who has spent many years perfecting their craft. Whether you need a surgery or antibiotics will always involve a medical practitioner who must put their license and reputation on the line. If my opinion differs from yours and you are angry you will give me lower scores on the survey.
I have spoken before about appointment times and how little time we have together. I have talked about the first 18 seconds of the appointment and how important it is for you to be organized, http://feleciafroemd.com/about/. I have also alluded to the fact that your doctor is an advisor about your health matters. Imagine having an advisor who only told you what you wanted to hear regardless of whether it was good advice for you. Your doctor has spent many years learning how to help you, learning to be a good advisor to you. Being a good advisor is about giving the best advice you can with the given information. The advice may not be what you want to hear and you may not agree with the advice. Does that mean that the advisor is not giving you good care? If you do not like the advice, you are free to seek advice elsewhere, but should the fact that you did not like the advice cause your doctor to make less money? This is like when a friend recommends a movie that you go to see, you sit through the whole thing and at the end decide that you don’t like it. You might not take your friends advice on movies anymore, but you don’t ask your friend to reimburse you for the movie.
Trust is key in this relationship
In medicine, we can give you the appointment time that you want. In my organization you may choose a office visit, telephone appointment or video visit. You can get the diagnostic testing that you need and want at a time that is convenient for you. You can pick up medications at drive-through pharmacies and get automatic refills of medications. All things to make life easier for you and to get you to be a life-long customer. But when it comes to getting advice from your doctor, you may not always be happy. You may not hear what you want to hear. If you trust your doctor, you know that he is doing his best for you, giving the best advice he can on any given day. This is the best that anyone can hope for.
Expect your doctor to give you advice based on medical information. Expect your doctor to be honest with you, even when you do not like what you are hearing. This is the basis of a relationship that you can trust. When your doctor treats you as a customer delivering want you want instead of advising you based on clinical information, your health may be in jeopardy. Your trust is definitely in danger.
If you cannot trust your doctor, you need another doctor. Don’t pass ‘go’, don’t collect $200. Find another doctor. Trust is key in this relationship.
Remember, your health is your responsibility.
