How do you know how good your doctor really is? I've had a lot of contact with the medical profession over the last 2 months. With waiting lists for most appointments, it's hard to be choosy. But I've found there are quite a wide variety of people and personalities who end up in the medical profession. And it's not all good. (it's not all bad either). Kind, compassionate caregivers to dismissive, rude know-it-alls. Also hard to take are the smooth, slick talkers who pretend to know stuff, but really don't. Almost laughable.
But... you're at the whim of whomever happens to snag your chart as you walk into the emergency room. Be polite, give your history as clearly as you can, don't be afraid to be assertive. None of this guarantees the outcome of your choice. After waiting 5 hours for a chest xray that had been promised (and may have prevented my ICU admission), I was told that no xray was going to happen, and left. It's hard not to end up doubting yourself when you feel unwell, but the doctor knows best. Right? Or the time 2 days earlier when I was admitted after a very scary ambulance ride because I couldn't breath, only to be diagnosed as "psychiatric" because I'd had 2 1/2 drinks and was babbling... likely a delirium from the sepsis I was just about to come down with. Where's House when ya need him???
But being the optimist that I am (and with the encouragement of a very wise friend of mine) I kept going back to this very same hospital and wound up being seen by one of the good ones. Who did the right tests, finally did the xray, referred me to the right specialist, basically saved my life. Met lots more of them over the next several weeks. Amazing, caring nurses too. Some of the better doctors apologized... we're all human aren't we? This is the reason I teach first year medical students year after year. Their very first interviewing course. How to take a history. How to listen to patients. How to make a diagnosis 80% of the time by talking to the patient. How to treat patients with respect, empathy and compassion. See the patient seeking help from you as individual with an illness, not as the "non-cardiac chest pain in bed 3". When I teach again this September, I'll have quite the story to tell. What to aim for, things to avoid. Take the extra time to think outside the box. Every so often, things are not what they seem. How you want to be treated. Care. Listen. See.
