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The success of therapy depends on your contact with the doctor and how much you know about your disease. Unfortunately, the research of the Polpharma Scientific Foundation shows that patients lack reliable information about the disease they are treating. This has a negative impact on their approach to medical recommendations, and thus the treatment effects are much worse than expected.
One of the most important reasons for this is poorcommunication between the patient and the doctor . Why often leaves the patient uninformed and confused? We are talking about it with Zbigniew Kowalski, program director of www.komunikacjazpacjentem.pl.
- What is the basis of good therapy?
Zbigniew Kowalski: Proper communication of information about the state of he alth and the need for specific treatment, i.e. proper communication between the doctor and the patient. For over a dozen years he has been teaching doctors the principles of proper communication with patients. Unfortunately, they do not always understand how important it is that it is not all about speaking and listening. Communication is more than a conversation. If the doctor is not looking at the patient when he is talking to him, he also sends a message. In short, proper communication means that at the end of the visit, the doctor and the patient get along, because this is the basis for proper treatment.
- Only is it possible if the doctor has so little time for the patient?
Z.K .: It must be possible. Everyone expects empathy in their illness. If he does not feel it, he is embarrassed. When the doctor does not answer good morning, he does not look at us, but at the papers, we feel disrespected. And this is not what we expected.
- What do we expect from the doctor?
Z.K .: This is a key question. Many studies confirm that problems in the doctor-patient relationship result mainly from excessive self-expectations. Patients want what they can't get from doctors, and doctors expect what they can't get from their patients. And unfulfilled expectations do not bode well for the future.
Z.K .: These are some myths about what an ideal doctor and an ideal patient should be like. According to patients, an ideal doctor knows everything and can do everything, is always nice and polite,always available, listens carefully and empathetically, avoids confrontation, allows the patient to make decisions, listens willingly and does not judge, creates an atmosphere of closeness and, finally, adapts to each patient. According to doctors, the ideal patient is the one who openly expresses his problems, speaks succinctly and precisely, is always on time and never extends the visit, is dressed in such a way that it is easy to be examined, is clean and smells nice, always accepts the doctor's advice, He never gives advice himself, scrupulously follows all recommendations, easily and quickly changes his habits.
Z.K .: That is why the communication between them fails. And if it is not there, there will be no good, effective treatment.
Z.K .: The doctor has to make an accurate diagnosis and choose the best treatment. The patient should provide the doctor with all the necessary information to help him make a diagnosis, and follow the doctor's instructions. Another thing is that we often hide a lot of information from the doctor because we are afraid of a negative assessment. Such an attitude is justified, because none of us wants to talk about our imperfections in front of a stranger, admit that, for example, we like to snack, that she smokes … that they can be important information about our he alth. Then, during the visit, the truth will more easily pass through our throats.
Z.K .: The basic right of the patient is the right to information about his he alth. And let us not question this right. Consider the ability to share this information and the physician's ability to properly understand and receive it. In my opinion, more important than honesty is openness, i.e. the ability to accept the other person's opinion. Willingness to accept the truth. Although the more the patient tells the doctor about his problems, lifestyle, ailments, the easier it will be for him to make a correct diagnosis.
ImportantPrepare to see the doctor
What should the patient do to learn as much as possible from the doctor about his disease and the treatment method used? You should prepare for the visit. You can write down questions to the doctor on a piece of paper, because the most important ones often remind us after leaving the office. This attitude of the patient also facilitates the work of the doctor. By asking questions, we will obtain information that we might not otherwise havereceive - the doctor does not talk about certain things because they seem obvious to him. And what is obvious to a doctor may not be obvious to the patient.
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