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3 THINGS PATIENTS REALLY
WANT FROM THEIR DOCTORS
By Suneel Dhand, MD,
Suneel Dhand is a physician, author and speaker. He is the Founder
at DocSpeak, and Co-founder at DocsDox. He blogs at his self-titled site: suneeldhand.com
The doctor-patient interaction is the absolute core of clinical
medicine. Maybe I’ll go much further: it’s the core of health
care in general. I always try to remember, whenever I’m ever
feeling frustrated with the system, the crazy bureaucracy —
and of course, the debacle of our clunky electronic medical
records and their data entry requirements — to separate
myself from all of that when I’m face-to-face with my patient
and their family. This time is priceless, it’s why I went into this.
The interactions and honor of serving my patients at a low
point in their lives, makes it all worth it. It’s where the magic of
medicine happens, and is something that is untouchable by
any external factor, if you choose to make it that way.
Here are three things that patients want from that doctor-
patient interaction:
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1. A compassionate doctor who communicates well.
A physician who understands that they are coming to them for
help, shows empathy, and listens carefully to the problem. The
doctor should exhibit both in their verbal and non-verbal
communication, that they are fully engaged in
being their doctor, who truly cares for them. There are an
array of phrases and body language techniques that can be
used to show empathy, all of them are very learnable, and
deeply appreciated by your patients.
2. A doctor who is honest and transparent. I actually
think almost all physicians are this way anyway — highly
trustworthy professionals in the first place (anyone not that
way, would unlikely have made it so far). Nothing but complete
honesty with a sincere interest in getting the best possible
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