An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, goes the traditional saying. In a recent poem I read, the proverbial saying was reversed to”An AIDS
patient a day, keeps the doctor away.” The ideal doctor- patient relationship has forever remained a paradigm few strive to attain. Insight into the problem is the necessary first step to solving it.
Making the paradigm shift away from thinking of difficult
patients to thinking of difficult relationships is the first step to managing such relationships better. People have
different modes of relating to their
doctors, and those methods may
change at different times or for different maladies. In the “traditional” doctor-patient relationship, the doctor leads and the patient follows. This may prove to be effective for some patients because they feel secure and cared for, in a protective atmosphere. Others may view the doctor-patient relationship, as a co-operative enterprise, as more of a partnership, where both doctor and patient contribute to the decision-making
process. Some prefer to make decisions and use a doctor primarily as a consultant. Today, many patients play a strong role in the decision-making process. This brings about a revolutionary change in the power-dynamics of the doctor-patient relationship. Of course, such empowerment doesn’t automatically make the patient right. Doctors should help persuade patients to do what makes sense. Health is a basic human necessity and not a luxury. Rather than butting heads, both must seek to find ways to satisfy the other’s needs and concerns. Both must begin by acknowledging a common goal of keeping the patient alive and maintaining health. Having access to a strong provider-patient relationship, with good participative communication, has been shown to be important for the experienced and objective quality of care. However one must keep in mind that just as there isn’t a “one size fits all” approach to HIV treatment and care, there’s no one doctor-patient relationship that suits everyone.
More summaries about the relationships in healthcare