Manoj Jain asks whether politics belong in the exam room in his recent Washington Post piece (via the WSJ Health Blog):
I have strong political opinions, but I am edgy about disclosing them to my patients for several reasons. For one, I’m in an authoritative position: When I talk about antibiotics, my patients listen and usually do as I advise. As a result, they might give inappropriate weight to my political pronouncements. For another, I fear that no matter how carefully I tread in these conversations, a disagreement could leave a dead zone in our relationship; that would be damaging because doctors and patients have to work as a team.
Some patients take political disagreements so personally that it may indeed damage the relationship. Most physicians I know won’t talk politics with patients partly for this reason, but mostly because there’s simply no time:
Another colleague, an orthopedic surgeon, also refuses to talk politics, but his reason was purely practical: “Who has the time to chitchat?” That’s a good point. As a 2006 study showed, the average primary care visit is 17.4 minutes long and includes discussion of 6.5 topics. Often, I barely have time to spell out the potential side effects of my patients’ medications. A political discussion should include more than sound bites.
