Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Good Qualities in a Doctor

I had to be at work at the crack of dawn this morning to give the monthly resident rotation exam. We give it in the office area where I used to work, which is of course across campus from my new office. I took everything with me when I left yesterday so I wouldn't have to come all the way over to my office and then hike back this morning.

Except when I went to give the first exam I realized I'd left the answer sheets in my office. Dang it. I told the first resident that I'd left them in my office across campus and then came up with an alternative solution, which was no big deal.

Since I no longer have an office over there, I had nowhere comfy to hang out while waiting on them to finish the exam so I ended up sitting in the floor near a table by my old office. When the first resident finished his exam, he couldn't find me. Apparently he went all the way back to the cath lab looking for me. When he found me he said he had gotten confused because he thought I was in that office but the door was closed so he didn't know where I'd gone.

#1. I was five feet from the office door.
#2. I'd pointed out when I gave him the exam that my office was now across campus and I'd left the answer sheets there.
#3. I was in the exact same place I had been when I handed him test.

As a patient, I find that I get frustrated with doctors who don't actually hear what I say when I talk to them. When I first started having chronic muscle pain I saw eleven different medical professionals in two years, in part because half of them weren't actually listening when I explained what was happening and never bothered to actually look at what I was showing them.

Now I talk to some of our trainees here and shake my head, wondering how in the world they are going to be effective doctors when they can't hear what people are saying and don't bother to look at things right in front of them. The answer is they probably won't be effective, but that doesn't mean they won't be successful.

9 comments:

Christy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christy said...

I hate that too. I generally have to be comatose before I will even attempt at a doctor's office visit.

Why?

Because they act like they are not concerned and they just ALWAYS say it's a virus.

The other thing that peeves me is when they laugh and carry on outside my door in the nurses common area while I wait miserably for my prescription so I can just go home and DIE. . . . .

Grr.

Susan said...

I once sat in an exam room and listened to my doctor on the phone making plans for his weekend getaway with a friend for 20 minutes. Yeah. That was topped in the same clinic, different trip, when I heard a nurse on the phone outside my exam room calling in prescriptions - complete with full name, SSN, and and date of birth of each patient! After that I NEVER asked them to call in anything for me, I'll pick it up!

mayberry said...

I think the majority of doctors now are in cahoots with the drug companies because they only seem concerned with treating symptoms, not the cause.

From the Doghouse said...

I hope you took advantage of the situation to explain why he will now stink as a doctor.

Susan said...

Doghouse - Do you really think he'd listen to THAT when he doesn't listen to anything else?

Mayberry - I have mixed opinions on that. I've had first hand experience with reps and the docs and I can tell you the relationships vary a lot. Quite a few of our docs won't give the reps the time of day. Others consider the reps a necessary evil. I just know I hate dealing with them!

Webmaster said...

that's scary, but you're absolutely right. It's so frustrating when you're clearly suffering, and it's like they don't care. They look in that chair and don't see a human being, they see dollar signs and you know they're trying to rush you through so they can get to their next paychec— I mean, patient.

Supermom said...

That's why I refuse to go to M.E.A...

me: "I think I sprained my ankle"

them: "Let me run a strep test."

Their answer for everything is a strep test. Must have a heck of a profit margin on those things.

From the Doghouse said...

Would he listen? Probably not (although telling someone they're terrible can get their attention). But, at least they can't go through life without someone warning them how bad they'll be.