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Dr. Dave Offers Advice For Dealing With Doctors

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Sep 23, 2008 9:47 pm US/Mountain

Dr. Dave Offers Advice For Dealing With Doctors

Reporting
Dr. Dave Hnida
DENVER (CBS4) ― A small study suggests doctors are not as caring towards their patients as they should be.

Researchers looked at 20 doctor-patient interactions at a V.A. medical center in the south. The patients were being treated for lung cancer.

Patients expressed feelings like sadness or fear 384 times. The doctors showed empathy only 10 percent of the time. That's worse than previous studies showing doctors expressing empathy anywhere from 21 percent to 38 percent of the time.

"It's a small study, but the results you see are not new," CBS4 Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida said. "Some doctors are just jerks, just like you'll find in any job in America. But since this is health we're talking about, I think courtesy and empathy are more important."

Hnida said he can think of a number of reasons why bedside manners are going down the drain. He said many doctors are unhappy and also too rushed, seeing more patients than ever before, so they don't have the time patients need to sit and chat.

"We spend too much time on the phone fighting with insurance companies to get you the treatment or even the prescription you need," Hnida said. "When I first started 25 years ago, I loved going to work. But now I'm in a world where medicine is big business. Most surveys of doctors contain a simple quote, 'I love being a doctor, but I hate the practice of medicine.'"

Hnida thinks doctors' misery translates directly into how they take care of patients sometimes, and that's not good. He says patients expect certain things from their doctors.

"No question, common courtesy and a sense that your doctor is paying attention is the most important," he said. "Along with that come some things that you should be able to hang your hat on."

He says a doctor should explain what's going on in plain and simple language and be comfortable with family members in the room. There should also be a clear plan of action and the doctor should follow up in a timely fashion.

"No one likes waiting for test results," he said. "Get a time when you can call for results and expect that call to be answered."

Hnida said secrets to practicing well is to make the patient feel like their sinus infection is the most important of the 30 sinus infections he's going to see that day.

Doctors should never object to a second opinion or a reasonable request for a referral.

"For me, I know my limits and I don't have a problem saying, 'This is a problem that's beyond me,'" he said.

He said to watch out for doctors who think the answer to every problem is a prescription and doctors who dismiss any research, such as on the Internet, about a particular problem.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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