Tip of the Day - Doctor-Patient Relationship

Summary

Dr. Mike emphasizes the importance of a collaborative patient-doctor relationship, where patients are in charge of their healthcare and doctors provide expertise to support their goals. He advocates for teamwork in achieving health objectives, rather than a one-sided approach.

Full Transcript

Hey everybody, it's Dr. Mike again. How are you? It's good to see you once again, and today I'm sponsored by Denny Direct Care and the Referral Class Network. I'm happy to be with you today. I wanted to speak with you for a few minutes about the nature of the patient-doctor relationship. I think it's really important that we consider the overall interaction between the patient and the doctor. One of the things I've learned over the course of my career, and I feel very strongly about this, is that the patient should be in charge of the healthcare they receive. Of course, the doctor has experience and knowledge, but the patient also has experience and knowledge in their own life. I often tell my new patients when they come to the office that they are my boss, and I love that relationship—I work for them, they don't work for me. I think that's a really important component of appropriate healthcare delivery: who's in charge of this process?

The reality behind that is there's a duality. The patient is an expert in their own life—they understand their goals and objectives and how they want their healthcare to be delivered. They want to achieve certain objectives when they're with the doctor. The doctor, on the other hand, may not know the patient entirely through the course of their life, but they know a lot about health, the types of medications, and the nature of the body in the form of anatomy and physiology. So, the doctor has expertise as well. That expertise should be combined with the patient's expertise in their own life and their goals. Understanding that makes clear the nature of the relationship.

I've often offered my patients this consideration: when they see me, I want to work in the best way that I can to help them achieve their health goals. Of course, I have experience and knowledge, with my own objectives that I'd like to offer to them. At the same time, they are offering their thoughts and considerations. The two of us working together for the individual's healthcare is ultimately more powerful than if the patient just told the doctor what they wanted, or if the doctor just told the patient what they wanted. That's not as powerful as when the two work together as a team to accomplish the necessary goals.

So, with that, I'm Dr. Mike, working with the Referral Class Network and Denny Direct Care. That's your tip of the day for how to consume healthcare—working with your doctor as a team to accomplish your healthcare goals. Thanks for listening today.