Doctors should not only be technically competent, but also be able to listen and explain well. Our columnist found out from an acquaintance that this is not the case for everyone.
In the waiting room: some patients feel left alone with their questions and concerns.
Poor communication is a common reason why love relationships, friendships, but also work relationships break up. Good communication skills are also an important success factor in medicine. That’s what I had to think about when an acquaintance recently told me her story.
The young woman was being treated in a special clinic for persistent headaches. At the last appointment, the doctors had prescribed her a new painkiller and had an MRI of her head done. During this follow-up visit, they wanted to talk to the patient about her experiences with the new drug and the MRI images.
That was the plan. However, my friend had the impression that the doctor who was responsible for her that day did not know her medical history and did not know what had been agreed with her. “Didn’t we want to discuss the MRI?” the young woman asks towards the end of the consultation. The doctor then looks for the corresponding report on her computer and says: “The MRI is unremarkable. But there is an additional finding: an anomaly of a vein.”
An anomaly? The word startles my friend. Apparently something isn’t normal in my head, in my brain, she thinks. Irritated, she asks the doctor what that means: an anomaly. “It’s not bad,” she says. “The vein is not like in the textbook.” My friend wants to know what is different about her. And whether the MRI result could have something to do with the headache.
The young woman suddenly has a thousand questions. Understandable questions when you’ve had a headache for months and don’t know where it’s coming from. But the doctor has no time for a detailed discussion. She has to call the senior doctor to discuss the drug treatment for the patient. The patient briefly sends her out of the consulting room. When she is allowed back inside, the doctor has a prescription for a new drug in her hand: an antidepressant.
“Why an antidepressant?” my friend asks. What to expect from it. And what side effects to expect. There are also many legitimate questions on this subject. The doctor says: “You can research it yourself.” And then: «I don’t want to stress. . .». Then she pushes the recipe across the table to the young woman. ‘Try this. We’ll take a look in three months.” Since my friend bursts the collar. “I don’t want the antidepressant,” she says and leaves the consulting room without a new appointment.
The story illustrates what poor medical communication causes: insecurity and anger. In medicine, one should speak plainly with the patient, but always with the necessary sensitivity. The doctor shouldn’t have spoken of an “anomaly” to my friend. Something that appears to be medically irrelevant. A neutral term such as “anatomical variant” would have triggered fewer emotions and fewer questions. But more importantly, good communication takes time. Doctors who cannot offer this time risk losing the patient to complementary medicine. Their representatives do not have any convincing therapies. But they do listen to their patients.
In the weekly column “Main thing, healthy” the authors take a personal look at topics from medicine, health, nutrition and fitness. Texts that have already been published can be found here.
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