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.
Related posts:
- A surgeon dumps post-op patients to hospitalists
- When fat doctors talk to obese patients
- Patients die when doctors don’t talk to one another
- So, what do surgeons really talk about in the OR?
- Doctors dealing with difficult patients, is it the fault of young physicians?
- Politics and the CDC
- Chatty doctors
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You were all more than willing to talk about the politics of tort “reform” a few years ago with your patients. And you were doing that for your liability carriers only!
Now you’re reticent about discussing the fact that one candidate’s plans put you that much closer to being full time govt. employees? Really?
For very smart people, you guys have very little common sense it would seem.
I’ve heard plenty of conservative talk radio in dentists’ offices (I don’t blame the dentist for wanting a radio on, but the choice might be an issue), and had lots of doctors spout sexist comments (about how girls don’t need to go to college/grad school, shouldn’t have a job, whatever). I’d love to see a doctor’s office display a safe space sticker or rainbow, just once, or have pictures of people of color (lots of generic mom/baby pics around, always white).
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