The Unproductive Office Visit
I recently got an email from a long-time listener to my local radio show Dr. Chet’s Straight Talk on Health. The gist of what she wrote went something like this. “You always tell me to work with my physician for my better health, that they should be my partner for good health. What if I can’t get their attention to listen to what I have to say? I had to get a new primary care physician (PCP). They didn’t really listen to me and just wanted to order a bunch of tests for no specific reason.” I’ve heard that before.
When we lived in Buffalo, Paula got an appointment with a new PCP. Paula goes to the doctor prepared; she always takes a list of her medications and because this was a new PCP and she knew she might forget something critical, she had printed a list of symptoms she wanted to discuss in hope of arriving at a diagnosis. The physician threw the list on the desk without looking at it and proceeded with his agenda. That’s not the way to get along with Paula; it went downhill from there.
Is this a common problem? Physicians who don’t take the time to listen to what ails us? Researchers wanted to find out. They examined video and audio tapes of office visits that were recorded for training purposes. This is a complex task because in some cases, a nurse may inquire about the nature of the visit while getting baseline information. In others, residents working with the physician may interview the patient to determine the purpose of their visit. In many cases, it was the first contact between patient and physician. What they found was interesting and disturbing; more in Thursday’s Memo.
Tomorrow night is the July Conference Call for Insiders. If you want to take part, simply go to DrChet.com and join as an Insider. I’m going to be discussing several topics including the effectiveness of complementary medicine in cancer treatment. As always, I’ll be answering Insiders’ questions as well.
What are you prepared to do today?
Dr. Chet
References: J Gen Intern Med (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-018-4540-5
