Hi all you non-doctors out there. I have news for you: your doctor is judging you. If they're any good, you won't know that this is happening, but it is true. They are human, and well, patients sometimes do ridiculously dumb things that deserve judgement.
I know some of you are thinking how evil I am for saying that. How if you were my patient you would never tell me ANYTHING. How I must be a terrible doctor. (I'm not actually. A doctor. Yet.) But guys, this is a BLOG, not real life, and if you think my judgements are bad, you should see some of the other guys.
In the class we have in medical school on how not to be an asshole to our patients, we learn how make the patients feel like we think that they are intelligent thoughtful consumers of healthcare by listening to them, even if we think that you are totally clueless and endangering yourselves. We do this because we know that if you think we respect your views, you are more likely to follow our advice.
But say you tell us that you just slept with 15 people over the weekend. Or that you refuse to consider quitting smoking. Or that you dilute the formula you feed your baby so that the baby doesn't get fat. Or that you take mega doses of herbs via enema that you shoot up your ass every other day to get the evil spirits out. Or that you think that medical interventions are the work of the devil, and therefore you don't want to give your child chemotherapy.
We are very very happy you told us these things so that we can address them, but we will probably at very least think you're a little weird, and possibly that you're a freaking idiot. And dangerous.
And if we are good at what we do, we will be able to address these issues without making you FEEL stupid or judged. Learning to communicate well as a doctor is kind of like learning how to be a good actor.
In the end, it's still possible to be respectful to patients and even to like them as people, even if they sometimes make bad decisions about their health.
Just remember that the next time you get angry because your doctor tells you something you didn't want to hear.
4 Pearls of Wisdom:
Do you sometimes have an overwhelming "us against them" feeling?
Who is "us" and who is "them"?
Hey, as long as you can leave whatever your hangups are at the examining room door, it's all fair game as far as I'm concerned.
Awesome blog you got here. I'm amazed you even have the time to write. Good luck with your studies.
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