It is very important for a doctor to treat and understand beyond the disease to properly get the context and guide them better. Sir William Osler, a famous physician once said, “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” This changed the way of medicine and inspired a new form of practice called biopsychosocial health.
Similar to doctors, patients also need to have a clear understanding of the instructions given by the physician to improve their health. A healthy doctor-patient relationship ensures that there is a comfort zone between the healer and the healing.
Several studies have shown that a good relationship between the doctor and patient supports better health recovery in cases of patients with diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoarthritis. The relationship between doctor and patient is characterized by respect, trust, empathy, compassion, and more. The psychological comfort for a patient near a doctor removes almost all the stress which does not interfere in the healing process.
Tips For The Best Doctors To Improve Their Relationship With Patients
Doctors deal with a lot of patients in one day. Moreover, not all patients have the same type of temper or problems and require emergency or critical care at times. This leaves them with very little time to interact with each patient personally. This poses a serious challenge for the best Medicine doctor to properly interact with the patients to know them enough to create a comfort zone. Although troublesome, the situation can be taken care of by following a few small steps during each session. This could ideally create a proper relationship with the patients which will succeed in treatment.
- Time Management
Lack of time is one of the most common interferences in the development of a proper doctor and patient relationship. Better time management allows doctors to invest more time in each patient and also take care of their psychological well-being for better treatment.
- Improving Communication
There are several medical schools that train and practice communication techniques for doctors. This training can enhance the behavioral pattern of a doctor and help them present themselves as warm, respectful, and courteous. These behavioral communication techniques project positive feelings towards the patient and help them open up and enter the comfort zone. Better communication is one of the major factors that can help build a proper patient and doctor relationship. Additionally, the doctors learn to say the right things at the right time to ensure that the situation never gets out of control.
- Warm Beginning To A Session
Try and have a human touch in your approach instead of being mechanical. If you start getting into treatment, diagnosis, and medicine right away, it can halt the connection and interfere in the treatment procedure. Start with an informal question and a welcoming approach to ensure that the patient feels that you are lending them an ear.
- Let Your Patient Speak
It is very important for the patient to be able to share their concerns. Letting your patients speak will also allow you to understand their concerns and stay within your schedule. Not allowing them to speak might make it difficult for you to keep track of your time, affecting the treatment process.
Doctors need to be very good empaths to properly understand and treat patients. Affective empathy allows doctors to approach their patients with a mutual understanding of the problem and allows the patients to completely trust the doctor and talk about their problems freely. This ensures a good doctor-patient relationship and enhances the treatment process and recovery.
- Concerning Attitude
When a patient visits you, ask them some generalized questions about their health to show them that you are concerned about them. This helps build trust and allows your patient to communicate with you freely. Addressing these factors will make them feel like you care, increasing the rate of recovery.
- Answering Post Visit Queries
Several patients, especially with comorbidities or acute conditions might have questions and doubts about treatment or medication post-visit. Although these queries need to be addressed, the shortage of time makes it difficult for doctors to answer all the questions.
As a practitioner, you should try and address the problem and decide a way to properly communicate post-visit queries. One of the ways to handle this situation is to have different numbers for queries and check them at the end of the day. Alternatively, you can also hire an assistant to address these queries and answer each patient individually. This ensures better immediate care and improved treatment.
Doctors need to have a keen sense of responsibility to maintain a proper patient-doctor relationship to improve the rate of recovery. For a doctor, patients need to be their priority and not the disease. The best general physician in Kolkata adheres to the biopsychosocial norms to ensure better treatment and recovery for the patients.
Additionally, patients also need to ensure that they find a doctor they are comfortable with and can keep their communication lines open. Lastly, patients should also always respect the boundaries of their physician and express appreciation for their help. These little steps to develop mutual respect can help both the doctor and the patient to get along and commonly treat the problem.