Your doctor's secrets

The New York Times Health blog pointed to a Reader's Digest article "41 secrets your doctor would never share." And in typical Reader's Digest style, physicians of various specializations from across the country, shared short quotes and vignettes about the practice of medicine, the things that patients do that drive physicians crazy.

The introduction to the vignettes claimed the lessons offered "can help you be a better, smarter patient." But as I read the short quotes, I couldn't help but think many of the vignettes, without context, would cause more harm than good, and perpetuate the stereotype of the physician as hurried, uncaring, and paternalistic. Certainly it would be helpful to understand the frustrations that doctors encounter with patients. But the frustrations of medicine are certainly more complex than they are presented here. It's not just a matter of patient non-compliance, but also the changing context of HMOs, reimbursements, shorter visit times and increasing overhead and malpractice costs. And these quotes also often fail to take into consideration why these men and women went into medicine in the first place and many went into the profession for the noblest of reasons: to help people.

You can't boil effective physician-patient relationships to pithy, memorable quotes. Such working relationships take time and effort to build. Many of the "secrets" offered by RD just seem preachy. And seeing the naked frustrations of the practice of medicine, without context, won't help build the trust necessary to build quality working relationships between physicians and patients. But maybe it can help start a conversation.

You can find the NYT blog here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/what-your-doctor-really-thinks/.

And the RD article here: http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/41-medical-secrets/article75920.html.