iDentistry The Journal identistry_jan_april2019 | Page 16

The Journal
talk which usually forms a bad perception about
us surely. Even if we guess the problem in one
go, we should try to be attentive purely for two
reasons; one, you might appear stupid, if the
patient blurts out additional symptoms and you
have to change your stance and the differential
diagnosis and second, always be patient, life
can be full of surprises, however smart you may
be or try to become one. The dentist-patient
interaction purely demands the dentist to
demonstrate curiosity towards the patient using
a few open-ended questions to gather more of
the clinical symptomatic data, orienting patients
to your system and way of working, your
standards of care, making a provisional
diagnosis, treatment plan keeping patient’s time
schedule in mind and then summarizing their
concerns and promising to deliver more than
what you actually promise. Never ever promise
the moon if you can’t even reach the tree top
because of your facilities (at clinic), your caliber
or your skills (whatever and wherever deficient
you may be). We ought to demonstrate lot of
dignity and respect whilst understanding (if not
experiencing) patient pain as this will cause
greater respect for us as a person in patient’s
eyes.
17. Never try to contradict, argue or match
wits with patients: There are always minimum
two ways of dealing with a situation and
manyatimes bluntly telling the patients that they
are misinformed about anything on face is
nothing but just plain rude. The respect to
opinion is one aspect I always lay stress upon in
all my talks and write-ups. Opinions are to be
respected if you don’t even partially agree with
them. Patients may have incorrect information
(courtesy Dr. Google), but that should still be
dealt with showing respect. The different (from
theirs) or the correct viewpoint can always be
explained politely with genuine and verifiable
reasoning, albeit in a softer undertone.As a
healthcare professional, our primary goal
should be to communicate to explain followed
by explain to communicate. The communication
should be crystal clear and transparent
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which should help patient make an informed
decision after knowing and understanding what
treatment is going to be instituted. Patient have
to be feel very important in the scheme of things
as us, primarily, because there has been a
paradigm shift in the treatment philosophy
where the doctor had been the ‘best judge’ for
decisions to an autonomous informed choice by
the patient or may be a shared decision making
by both as a middle road pathway.
It is not the employer who pays the wages;
employers only handle the money, it is the
customer who pays the wages
~ Henry Ford
18. Avoid technical terminology using
simple words in communication with
patients: Although medical/dental science is
full of technical terminology and sometimes, we
find it difficult to decipher and convey a few
words in patient language lest it should be
mistaken by the patient in any way, for e.g.
explaining what is a RCT to an illiterate or a
village back ground patient can be a little tricky
and cumbersome sometimes; some colleagues
explain the same as a treatment to deaden the
tooth. Believe me, sometimes, this translation is
not taken to be very kindly by many patients,
especially the ones with less educational
background. So, dentists sometimes to avoid
this kind of unsavoury predicament resort to
throwing up complicated jargon to the patients,
but it has shown to result in misunderstandings
and sometimes errors as well. The latter is
extremely undesirable in today's competitive
healthcare environment. We, as dentists have
to make absolutely sure that our explanations
are not clouded with excessive and complicated
verbiage to be labeled as extremely lengthy
discussions.It is best to be brief and to the point.
On the flip side, this does not mean that we have
to be silent always. Rather as a true
professional, we should go out of the way to
explain things in simple, declarative sentences.
Our patients want to connect us on an
emotional level.
Vol. 15
No. 1
Jan-April 2019