25 Jun 2007
Personal comments by physicians distract from patient needs

For a quick lesson in "modern" healthcare, repeat after me - the physician is irrelevant, only the treatment matters. Doctors could be replaced by machines or trained monkeys, as long as they make the correct diagnoses. Health is purely a matter of objective physical causes, and has nothing whatsoever to do with state of mind, beliefs or relationships.

Now get in line, and get your health, which is, of course, sold by volume, not by weight. Just don't try to think of doctors, nurses or other workers in the system as human beings - you'll just distract them from "serving" more patients.

In well-intentioned efforts to establish relationships, some physicians tell patients about their own family members, health problems, travel experiences and political beliefs. While such disclosures seem an important way to build a personal connection, a University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry investigation of secretly-recorded first-time patient visits to experienced primary care physicians has found these personal disclosures have no demonstrable benefits and may even disrupt the flow of important patient information.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

17:01 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link