Apparently, we doctors (or future ones) have a lot of secrets we don't share. Well, I'm going to share them anyway. Some choice ones include:
Your doctor generally knows more than a website. I have patients with whom I spend enormous amounts of time, explaining things and coming up with a treatment strategy. Then I get e-mails a few days later, saying they were looking at this website that says something completely different and wacky, and they want to do that. To which I want to say (but I don't), "So why don't you get the website to take over your care?"Nooooo! Don't tell them our secret!
--James Dillard, MD
In many hospitals, the length of the white coat is related to the length of training. Medical students wear the shortest coats.The sad reality of modern medicine in America:
--Pediatrician, Baltimore
Not a day goes by when I don't think about the potential for being sued. It makes me give patients a lot of unnecessary tests that are potentially harmful, just so I don't miss an injury or problem that comes back to haunt me in the form of a lawsuit.The article is pretty short, has more good quotes, and some interesting/shocking statistics at the end. For more about how doctors think, check out Jerome Groopman's excellent book. Enjoy!
--ER physician, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Updated 2015-12-13
Ten Things We Don't Tell Our Doctors:
ReplyDeleterejectedbyenquirer.blogspot.com/2008/06/ten-things-we-dont-tell-our-doctors.html
Haha, a little dose of patient cynicism.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the real erosion in the patient-doctor relationship has come due to the intrusion of 3rd- and 4th-parties (insurers, lawyers, etc etc). Oh well, hopefully this will improve in the future, but somehow I doubt it. Gotta love entrenched interests.