Why is the doctor always late, and also in a hurry? (Or maybe, some of the doctors) Besides the common tortures like traffic delays and having to do everything personal (banking / schooling duties / PTMs / Car repairs / Grocery etc.) by oneself, most young doctors face some “doctor specific” delays. While we all love our patients dearly, there are some people who really contribute royally to our delays everywhere. This article, although truth, is intended to be a comment, not criticism. 1. The patients who send umpteen messages about their appointment, confirmation, progress from home, reaching hospital gate, reaching waiting room etc and reminders every five min about waiting, often come in angrily and complain about the delay. When you apologize and start consult, ask them about their past test reports / prescriptions etc., they take a long time to search through a bunch of many files, some even just keep the files on the table and ask the doctor to find out what he / she wants from that bunch! Some say they have lost / forgotten the earlier reports / tests / files from other doctors etc. The doctor then has to recount, confirm history and re-examine the patient (On top of this, some patients once seen want to be charged only follow up charges forever after that!). There has to be a unified / national registry and documentation which keeps all the records of a patient, so patients don’t have to carry it always. This does not exist in India. A doc is supposed to keep his/ her own record, but different hospitals have different policies about how long. If patients / relatives arrange their reports / files / papers on the prior day / while waiting in the Waiting Room, much time can be saved. 2. Emergencies that have no time of arrival. It is surprising that the very patients whom you have attended in casualty at 2 AM / midnight , after being saved , discharged, when have to wait for 30 minutes in OPD, write complaint against the doctor for being late!! 3. Patients who ask all details (very glad to answer them), and after a long Q/A session, say “My brother / husband / son etc. is very busy, could not come here today.. could you please explain this all on phone to him too?”, or “ My uncle is in USA, please explain to him too” etc. Sometimes even bring a whole lot of “New” relatives who have had no idea of prior discussions and want to prove to the patient that they could really find a fault with what happened earlier. 4. Patients / relatives who google (this is welcome) and then ask many many unrelated questions about any claims they find on the net, without so much as bothering to also confirm the authenticity of such claims. And when you deny what they have hoped, an immediately suspicious negativity consumes another few minutes / hours to resolve. Best example Stem Cell therapy for various Neurological conditions. Can’t tell how many patients repeatedly discuss the same! 5. The umpteen number of staff / government patients, doctor’s own relatives / VIP’s servants etc etc plus minister’s staff, secretaries etc who walk in ANYTIME and have to be seen by preference. 6. Patients who were supposed to follow up after a month, turn up after a year, without earlier papers, and are upset because the doctor was few minutes late! 7. Patients who bring in Local Hooligans/ Politicos / Officers / Govt Personnel to pressurize the doctors: every Resident doctor / CMO has faced this nightmare. 8. Patients who don’t want to do any investigations, but also want a guarantee of good health / no risk, who keep on screwing the doctor for committing good outcome without any investigations. 9. Oversmart relatives / cases where every question is tricky, and the doctor is being held legally liable for every word he / she uses (How long will the patient take to become fully conscious .. you had said few hours… now it is one day… Is this drug completely safe ...? ...There has to be a training of medical common sense and unpredictability from schools!). 10. Patients who take calls while in the consulting, message, talk among each other, and google realtime every word you use. 11. Patients who come in with family as one appointment, and then “Request / beg” for one / more of other members in the room to be seen / examined as they cannot wait, as they have to leave in two hours! 12. Patients who take all the time while admitted, ask to do the best, then come in at the time of discharge with requests for “Concessions” … not knowing that the only concession a hospital will give is from the doctors charges! 13. Patients who keep on messaging / Whatsapping / emailing every minor health detail, and expect instant answers, failing which, repeated calls follow. 14. Patients who keep on evading the questions, not answering to the point, and describing repeatedly either the same point or often, what is not of any significance to the present problem (I get up every morning at 5 am and go for a walk starting at Prabhat road and walking over to Tilak road, and after returning read xxxx book , since last 25 years). Some even actually demonstrate the Yoga they do at home daily. As one matures, one learns to gently “steer” the history! 15. Patients whose claims are questioned / declined by insurance companies are after the doctors to write explanations / justifications / false diagnoses, changed histories etc… Sheer waste of a specialist’s time! 16. Patients who take multiple appointments and cancel them without any courtesy of a phone call.. This causes both waste of time and discomfort to other patients, besides financial loss! These are just a few examples. There are many additions (any patient anywhere in hospital may go bad, the doctors have to rush and attend many many medical problems..), but those are a Doctor’s duties. While we all try to keep patience and tolerate these delays, a little more understanding of this “incurable” disease from our patients will help. Thank You Rajas Deshpande
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 07:23:16 +0000