Bedside manner is not enough
Posted by Leslie Kane on March 17th, 2008. Filed under: patient relations, bedside manner, friendly physician, medical competence, patient centered care.
While patients want a doctor whom they like and can talk to easily, what’s most critical to them—especially if they’re very ill—is the doctor’s medical competence, according to a recent study of almost 1,200 patients. Patients were willing to pay more for a thorough physical examination and continuity of care than they were for simply a friendly physician and reduced waiting time.
What Patients Want From Primary Care Consultations: A Discrete Choice Experiment to Identify Patients’ Priorities [Via Annals of Family Medicine]
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Of course patients want doctors who are medically competent. That’s why they go to doctors. They also want food to tastegood and grocery stores to sell groceries. That’s what we marketers call the price of entry, Leslie.
Here are some facts:
In a …study of nearly 900 maternity patients, a Vanderbilt team found that obstetricians who had the most lawsuits were more likely to be named in patient complaints elicited in a survey. Among the complaints: They didn’t listen, didn’t return phone calls, didn’t show concern or respect, or were rude.
The truth is, all things being equal, you don’t sue someone you like.
I can remember growing up there was a physician in town who’s patients and the general public thought walked on water. I later realized as a physician that at least when he was older he was minimally competent and had to repeatedely get one of his younger partners to come to the OR to get him out of trouble. There is no telling how much “malpractice” he committed. Do you think he was ever sued? No way! It would have been like suing your own grandfather. My experince is that patients assume that you are competent but they want someone who is empathetic, sympathetic, and will listen. It’s really almost as simple as that. It’s amazing that many physicians either haven’t figured that out or they just can’t do it.