Choosing Your Physicians

I hate to be a complainer, but I am fairly critical about many things. One pet peeve is clinician bad attitude, behavior, and bedside manner.

I love medicine. I'm a believer in science. I am astonished by the pace of change and rapid innovation in curing what previously seemed incurable. What folks in the medical profession accomplish day to day is remarkable, and I personally admire--and somewhat envy--the gifts they give to patients and families.

That said, nothing gets under my skin more than a callous, insensitive physician. I understand that they have personal lives and unique stressors, and they have bad days just like everyone else. However, I can't fathom the amount of stress they must be under to forget that a real human is awaiting your gospel - diagnosis, treatment options, timelines hanging by their fingernails every second that passes by. This is day to day for the doc, but life and death for the patient and family.

While Shands is a great regional health system, and serves the area well, it's clear to me why they aren't a national health care player. Based on my personal experiences with Shands back in the 1990s, as well as the experiences of the rest of my family, I'll probably never recommend or use them for any non-urgent care.

Granted, my exposure is limited, but it only takes a few bad impressions to drive someone away forever. Based on our experiences (these are gross generalizations. i have no doubt there are great physicians and great work at Shands, I've just not been lucky enough to find them):

• The physicians have horrible bedside manner
• The physicians are not accommodating, particularly regarding scheduling. Sarah's genetic counselor "couldn't fit her in" until March 18th. Ridiculous.
• The physicians are not proactive about presenting what cutting edge treatments are available, or where patients might find the information.

In fact, physicians at Shands, in my eyes, epitomize a couple of the problems in medicine today: First, the snail-like distribution of knowledge and new research findings. It should've taken those physicians a day or less to give a complete review of options and outcomes for Gracie.

Second, the physicians don't think that you know that you have a choice. They don’t think you’ll go see someone else. They don’t realize that they are running a business that requires attention to customer needs, and yes, customer service. There is no way Sarah and Gracie are going to wait six weeks to see that physician. Back in 1991, my physician at Shands didn't think that his horrible bedside manner would cause my dad to tell him where to stick it, driving us not only to another physician, but another hospital.

These people seem to be stuck in the world of Marcus Welby, where the physician is the owner of knowledge, and therefore the owner of the physician patient relationship. Those days are (or should be) over. Today, information abounds. We can all be informed, and we should turn the tables and choose our relationships and our physicians carefully.