Advice from a Clinician Patient
Randy Danielsen offers pointers (gleaned from personal experience) on how clinicians should communicate with patients who also happen to be health care professionals.
Lastly, I am of the opinion that clinicians need to take great care to be objective and even a little detached in spite of their nature. There is always the tendency to give patients what they want instead of what they need. Please don’t confuse compassion with medical servitude or with a desire to be liked.
These cautions aside, the clinician who is compassionate will be much more therapeutically effective, to my mind, and more thoughtful in patient care than those who are not, and will be highly regarded among patients and colleagues alike. I highly recommend it!
I’d love to hear about your experiences as a patient and/or your advice to clinicians who are seeing you (send an email to PAEditor@qhc.com). Thanks for listening!
REFERENCES
1. The art of patient care: compassion in patient care (2011). www.art-of-patient-care.com/compassion.html?&lang=en_us&output=json. Accessed December 17, 2012.
2. Bernardino Ramazzini (2004). Encyclopedia of World Biography. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404707887.html. Accessed December 17, 2012.
