Providers as Patients

“As any doctor can tell you, the most crucial step toward healing is having the right diagnosis. If the disease is precisely identified, a good resolution is far more likely. Conversely, a bad diagnosis usually means a bad outcome, no matter how skilled the physician.”

Andrew Weil, MD

Healthcare workers are notorious for being "bad patients". Is it because we think we know everything? Is it experience? Attitude? Is it the long educational road we took to get here? Is it a myth?

Honestly, it's probably all of those things. It's human nature to want the best for yourself, and if you are getting medical care while also knowing how to give medical care, you will want your care to stack up to care you would give (or better). It's the little things that were drilled into your head during training, like "always ask name and DOB when entering a room", "check ID bracelet before giving meds", and "ask open-ended questions when interviewing". It's "I know what I'm doing because I went through medical school" or "I've been a nurse for 15 years"; and you're right, you probably do know what you're doing, but that isn't an excuse to be a grumpy patient.

It is also difficult for healthcare professionals to let others diagnose them. You know your body, and are often in tune with any abnormalities. You also know medicine, so you know common presenting symptoms for certain diseases, or adverse reactions for medications. You know when something isn't right, and that while yes, you get stomach aches, this one is just different. Or that while your grandfather has memory problems, this time it's just not the same. These senses are great to have, but this familiarity can also be detrimental.

It can cloud judgement. You can be "too close" to a situation, especially with yourself. This can lead to under and over estimations of medical problems. I feel like physicians are most associated with underestimations, such that we provide medications, treatments, preventatives and screenings for our patients, but not ourselves. You can be so sure that you're having exertional chest pain that is normal for you, but a physician may find you are having a heart attack. Conversely, you can think the worst, that you know headaches and weight loss are a sign of a brain tumor, but your story and symptoms to another provider are simply stress or migraines.

It can lead to discourse among patients and providers. As mentioned above, you can know something just is not right, but your story to another provider seems normal, or not worrisome. You can know the pain you are dealing with, but it is hard to articulate that to someone beyond yourself.

How do we deal with this? How can healthcare providers give and receive the best care? I am no expert, but I think there are a few good tips to follow:

1. Treat others as you want to be treated

The golden rule. Give care you expect to receive, were you to ever need it. Always follow the rules you were taught. This is more for the giving care aspect, rather than the receiving care aspect, but important nonetheless.

2. Allow other perspectives

This goes back to the risk of being "too close" to a situation. It is important to listen to your own body, and use the knowledge and experience you have gained, but it is also important to lean on others. This applies to the obvious, such as utilizing surgical expertise for a surgery rather than a pediatrician, but also for less obvious situations. Less obvious would be a doctor who works in Texas, who has tons of experience in heat stroke, and a nurse in Alaska, who has treated frostbite for years. They both have completed their degrees and are good at their jobs, but they have different situational experiences than each other, and than you. Also, getting an "out of the box" view is always good, just to highlight things you may have missed!

Medicine is a team sport. So let's treat it as such!