July 16th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Opinion
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Come on people… you know what I am talking about. Sure you are comfortable with your current doctor… after all you are still alive and kicking. Besides it has taken you years to figure out what you can safely tell your doctor and when it’s ok to speak up. Yes the fact that your doctor is often late and never seems to listen to you bothers you just a little. But you aren’t displeased enough to stop giving your doctor high satisfaction scores. After all who wants to upset their doctor? But admit it; you have wondered if there isn’t a doctor out there that would be a better fit with you. I know I have.
Doctors probably feel the same way about many of their patients. It can’t be easy everyday trying to help patients that don’t seem to want to help themselves… or who want a quick fix from a bottle of pills. Not to mention patients who habitually miss their appointments and are generally non-compliant.
How Would Changing Doctor’s Help? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
June 21st, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Opinion
1 Comment »
While by no means a representative sample of how we think about physicians, there is a clear pattern to the comments. A lot of people feel disrespected by their doctors…and they are pretty angry.
Here’s what patients (including a lot of former patients) had to say. I attempted to summarize the comments by category and included the top five categories of comments below.
#1 – “Being on time is a two way street.” – patients are expected to be on time for their appointments – why aren’t physicians expected to be on time. Doctors think and act as if their time is more valuable than the patient’s time.
#2 – “Listen to what I have to say.” “Doctors should realize that many patients have more life experience and have done more research about a condition and drug and may possibly know more than them. God forbid!” “If you do not like listening to your patients and getting proper information from them, you are in the wrong business.”
#3 – “Don’t just hear one or two of my complaints.” You try telling the doctor all the problems you have and the doctor stops you mid-way, telling you that he or she will take care of two and to come back again for other issues!” “What about someone like me who is on disability for a multitude of health problems? What then?”
#4 Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
June 11th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Opinion
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When you or I visit an accountant, a lawyer or car mechanic, we know what our role is and have a pretty clear understanding of what the ” expert” is supposed to do. But when it comes to a trip to the doctor these days the roles and responsibilities of patients and physicians have become blurred and unpredictable…and the patient seems to generally be on the losing end.
Take my Mom’s case. My Mom who was 89 years old and evidently had severe osteoarthritis. She never knew that even though she was been seen every couple of months by her Internist for years and years. It’s too bad…because my Mom died last week from complications due to a compression fracture of her spine. Turns out her spine was very fragile according to her consulting Neurosurgeon but no one ever told her.
The first question that entered my mind when I heard of her condition was why didn’t her primary care physician “pick up” on the severity of her condition before she fell and fractured her spine? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
May 25th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Health Policy, Opinion
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The short answer: No.
At least not in the context of a strong physician-patient relationship.
Many physicians have legitimate concerns about the prospects of having their salary or level reimbursement linked to patient satisfaction. I would too given the way most health care providers go about measuring and interpreting patient satisfaction data.
A major concern of physicians is the issue of patient requests – particularly the impact of unfulfilled (and unreasonable) requests upon patient satisfaction. According to researchers, explicit patient requests for medications, diagnostic tests and specialty referrals occur in between 25% to 40% of primary care visits. This figure is much higher when requests for information are factored in. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
May 14th, 2011 by StevenWilkinsMPH in Health Tips, Opinion
2 Comments »
Lots of smart people over the years have been trying to figure out why people stop taking their medications within the first 12 months. Within the first 12-months of starting a new prescription, patient compliance rates drop to less than 50%. This rate is even lower for people with multiple chronic conditions taking one or more prescription medications.
If these medications are so important to patients, why do they just stop taking them? It defies common sense. Sure issues like medication cost, forgetfulness, lack of symptoms, and psychosocial issues like depression play a role in patient non-compliance. But there also something else going on…or in this case not going on.
The problem is that doctors and patients simply don’t talk much about new medications once prescribed. Here’s what I mean. Let’s say that at a routine check-up a physician tells a patient that he/she wants to put them on a medication to help them control their cholesterol. The doctor spends about 50 seconds telling the patient about the medication. The patient nods their head takes the prescription and boom…the visit is over. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Mind The Gap*
Come on people… you know what I am talking about. Sure you are comfortable with your current doctor… after all you are still alive and kicking. Besides it has taken you years to figure out what you can safely tell your doctor and when it’s ok to speak up. Yes the fact that your doctor is often late and never seems to listen to you bothers you just a little. But you aren’t displeased enough to stop giving your doctor high satisfaction scores. After all who wants to upset their doctor? But admit it; you have wondered if there isn’t a doctor out there that would be a better fit with you. I know I have.
