Generally speaking, patients and physicians are working towards good health. While many patient expectations can be unreasonable, others are practical; this article amalgamates them. Can you identify the absurd demands?
But multiply half of the listed expectations by hundreds or thousands of patients, and we begin to understand why there is such a high rate of physician burnout. Bilateral empathy lowers expectations.
Bedside manner. Don’t accept a walk-in patient and leave us waiting ...
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I have the paradoxical privilege of being an emergency medical contact for dozens of people. Have you completed a healthcare medical directive with durable power of attorney? While reviewing a DPA with others, I strive to understand their choices in delicate life-or-death situations. This has me confronting death more often than many people.
They still talk to me
Triggered by seemingly insignificant events, fond memories of friends and relatives enter my mind ...
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I remember, some years ago, sitting with a relative across a large wooden desk in a doctor's private office. We discussed symptoms for half an hour during an initial consultation. On a different occasion, I recall another doctor pinning an MRI on the wall, circling an area and articulating exactly why the radiologist overlooked a diagnosis. There once was a doctor who stood bedside, outlining what was known, what was baffling and ...
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Past 6 Months
This pediatrician supports the National School Walkout. Here’s why you should, too.
Niran S. Al-Agba, MD | PhysicianThis doctor stopped prescribing opioids. Other physicians should do the same.
Thomas D. Guastavino, MD | MedsA bill to drive physicians out of practice in the state of California
Linda Hertzberg, MD | PolicyHow I saved my daughter from a medical error
Varun Verma, MD | PhysicianPush back on toxic behaviors from other doctors
Todd Rice, MD, MBA | PhysicianPhysicians have become devalued in modern health care
Anonymous | Policy