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Patients As Healthcare Advocates

Patients must always take responsibility for the care they receive

Dec 31, 2008 Scott Rupp

Patients must take responsibility for the care they receive from their doctors and there are several things to note when deciding whether a doctor is worth his salt.

To keep the doctor or not. That's the question. How does one know? Is waiting too long something to be concerned about?

Wait times have been a complaint of patients at doctor’s office for years. Though it’s typically the number one complaint, there are other things that can signal whether a doctor is a quack.

The following tips are simply that, tips. Patients should consider the entire course of care they receive, but if more than a couple of these points continue to pop up, red flags should follow.

Waiting to See the Doctor

According to Aniruddha Malpani, MD, it is the most common complaint of patients: the wait time to see a doctor was far too long. Must be a good thing, right, if the doctor is so busy that everyone in town has to be seen by him or her? Wrong.

If he or she consistently makes patients wait longer than 30 minutes it means the doctor does not respect his or her patients enough to value their time.

Doctors get away with making people wait so long because patients put up with it. If patients didn’t put up with the waits and walked out, it wouldn’t be long before doctors took notice and stopped booking so many people throughout the day. Making people wait more than 30 minutes to see the doctor is not right and it is not fair, simple as that.

Malpini says that no matter how busy the doctor, he or she can always space appointments so that patients never have to wait for more than a half hour minutes to see him, and some doctors deliberately overbook. The more patients they see, the better their income. While an occasional delay is unavoidable because of a medical emergency, if a patient is made to wait at each visit, something is seriously wrong with the doctor’s attitude.

Take note. If this continues to happen, it may be time to move on.

What Does the Clinic Look Like?

Yes, in this case, judging the book by the cover matters. Here are some things a patients should check out during his or her next doctor’s visit:

Is the clinic in a good building?
Is public access easy? What about parking?
Is the clinic comfortable? Has the doctor provided the basic amenities needed -- drinking water, comfortable seating, reading materials?
What kind of reading material is kept in the waiting area? Old and torn magazines are a negative mark. Patient educational literature and current issues of health magazines means the doctor respects a patient’s waiting time and uses it to educate them.
Is the office staff helpful? How do they answer the telephone?

Watch for High Fees

Are the fees too high? Not necessarily the sign of a good doctor, just an expensive one.

What about the medical records? Are they maintained, easy to understand, clear and concise? Accurate? Can they be found in an emergency? Has your doctor taken the time and trouble to explain them so that the patients understand them?

Incomplete Medical Care

This is a no-brainer, but if a patient is not receiving a thorough exam or insufficient care from a doctor, it’s time to move on; cut the ties and find someone that cares more for the health of his or her patients rather than their wallet.

To know if a patient is receiving the care they deserve, and are paying for, ask these simple questions:

Does the doctor take a careful history, asking probing questions about medical problems, family background, allergies and previous conditions?
Does he do a careful physical exam? Does he look the patient over or just take their word for it? In other words, do he look at the cut on the patient’s hand or the rash on the patient’s leg, or just blow it off and act as though he knows what is going on?
Does the doctor sit when talking to the patient?
Does he give the patient educational materials to read at home about the problem?

Complete and Quality Care

Patients are their own advocates and must know what to watch for when receiving medical care. Remember, doctors don’t come with labels and are not rated “good,” bad” or “okay.” It is up to the patient to decide, and making some observations and asking some questions is the first step to knowing whether or not the care, and the doctor, are living up to their billing.

Reference:

“How to Find Dr. Right,” by Aniruddha Malpani, MD, OBGYN.net, March 6, 1997

The copyright of the article Patients As Healthcare Advocates in General Medicine is owned by Scott Rupp. Permission to republish Patients As Healthcare Advocates in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.