When To Fire a Doctor

[Guest guest]

When To Fire a Doctor

By SYVJ Staff

http://www.santaynezvalleyjournal.com/archive/6/10/1437/

Oakton, VA — Today's consumers are demanding. They expect choice,

variety, quality of product and unequalled service.

If a waiter does a poor job, he is rewarded with a small tip.

Unprofessional day care providers are dismissed for a child's safety.

So why is it that when it comes to healthcare — easily one of the

most important things in life — patients seem willing to tolerate

substandard service that would be unacceptable elsewhere?

From the moment people walk into their doctor's office, they

immediately play a subservient role.

The American Medical Association says that each patient waits an

average of 20 minutes before their physician sees them. Once in their

presence, the average doctor — specialized or not — spends just seven

minutes in total with the patient and only allows a mere 18 seconds

to explain the symptoms before they interrupt.

If treated that way by any other professional — a lawyer, mortgage

broker or accountant — consumers would stand up and leave the office

vowing to find a new person to fulfill that particular role before

the end of day.

But when it comes to healthcare, why is it almost expected and

accepted that the person relied upon to spot cancer before it

spreads, to note an early indication of heart disease or diagnose the

onset of diabetes will have a bad attitude and just look at the

patient as a bunch of words or numbers on a chart and not as a human

being in need?

" Medicine is a service profession, " says Dr. Phyllis Hollenbeck,

author of the book " Sacred Trust: The Ten Rules of Life, Death and

Medicine " (Book Publishers Network). " It should be a humbling

experience to have the chance to be a physician – not a passport to

arrogance. "

" I've spent my entire adult life as a physician, " points out Dr.

Hollenbeck, " and I hate to say it but we have far too many jerks in

medicine who should have chosen a different line of work. "

Those strong words are coming from someone in the medical profession,

which is usually associated with joining-ranks and accepting little

to no criticism.

However, as her book demonstrates, Dr. Hollenbeck has long maintained

that medical consumers need to be even more discriminating about who

they chose to handle their health.

She goes one step further: " Many patients feel they have no power in

a doctor's office, " Dr. Hollenbeck says, " but in fact they hold all

the power. They are employing the doctor, and have every right to, in

effect, fire them if they are not satisfied with the service being

provided. "

With the population's life-expectancy increasing and the dramatic

rise in health issues like heart-disease, diabetes and obesity

showing no sign of abating, it is inevitable that the average person —

or a close family member of theirs — will one day be reliant upon

the skill, dedication and competence of a medical professional.

When a patient enters the examining room, Dr. Hollenbeck reminds

those in need of treatment, " any kind of doctor, from a Family

Physician to a subspecialist, works for the patient as well as with

them. "

Dr. Hollenbeck's believes the patient empowerment she advocates

in " Sacred Trust " can be the key in opening the lines of

communication in the examination room, leading to a higher quality of

healthcare.

" Doctoring is about understanding the connection between medical

science and the human spirit.

" From the moment the doctor opens the exam room door, people need to

be put at ease so they can tell their story. As an old saying

goes, `Most men would rather have you hear their story than grant

their wish.' The ability to correctly diagnose a patient demands it.

" Their life is in our hands, so it's only fair that our job security

is in theirs. "

Finally, Dr. Hollenbeck wants people to know how to fight for more

family physicians — and why they are declining in numbers in American

medicine.

" We are often a patient's first, last, and best chance — and we need

to be the center of excellence in medical care. "

Dr. Phyllis Hollenbeck has been a Family Physician for thirty years

and practices in a suburb of Washington, D.C. She is an honors

graduate of Brown University, as well as its medical school.

Hollenbeck's website can be found at www.hollenbeckmd.com.

[Guest guest]

Wow - this is refreshing to read!