"Health care communication ethics protects and promotes the good of responsive hope and the good and care for the Other..." (p 191)
I agree that this is an essential thing to consider in the realm of health care, especially when issues of severe health issues arise. I do, however, think that doctors often forget it and get wound up in the world of treating medicine as a business model: ill patient in, healthy patient out. They forget to acknowledge that patients have emotional needs and are a holistic being, not just their sick body part.
Because of that, they often fail at responsiveness, treating the sick person like a burden, like an annoying task the way someone who does data entry may consider an extra file at the end of the day. I know this firsthand because I have a chronic health issue, and have met doctors with varying degrees of bedside manner and responsiveness to holistic need. Some are to be commended, others have no business working with patients; they think they know better than the person who is sick about how they feel. A physician's response to the "other" is what makes or breaks them as a quality health care provider. They also sometimes forget that they need to communicate with the person as a person and treat the illness, not just treat the illness.
I totally agree with you. Different doctors have different way to treat patients, which is normal. However, some health care providers fail at responsiveness and make patients feel that they do not want to be hospitalized or continue to see their doctors. More importantly, I feel aged patients’ family are more likely to think them like a burden and be annoyed by their tasks. Even though their aged parents or relatives had taken care of them before, caring for elderly people is mentally and physically hard. Since you have some experiences with several doctors, you might have noticed that some of them are not well educated in health care communication ethics.
ReplyDeleteMy brother is studying in the medical department in order to become a doctor, and he told me that the students learn about medication and anatomy, but not patient/professor communication in depth at university. Therefore, they need to learn the effective methods to interact with patients in actual fields such as hospital and health care service center. Although communication is very important in medical treatment, they will not be examined in communication. In order to improve professors’ responsiveness and quality of care, it would be great if our knowledge about communication can apply to future medical treatment.
Doctors have a very challenging job because they're a lot of components they have to meet in order to effectively treat their patient in all aspects. First of all, the main goal of doctors is to treat their patients illness. However, in treating that illness or issue the treatment must include much more than the treatment itself in many cases. Many doctors don't go to school studying how to communicate with people because their training is focused on solving the medical issue. In addition, with many medical issues, there are often many other aspects that need to be considered such as someone's emotional needs. All of these aspects need to be considered in order to assist in a full recovery, but it also must be acknowledged that a doctors communication skills won't be tested to the extent of medical skills.
ReplyDeleteAs a communication major if you stuck me in a doctors office and told me I was meeting with a patient who was having pain in their stomach, I would have no idea how to go about diagnosing a patient. Even if I had my PhD in communications, I would still have no idea how to diagnose that patient. However, I would be able to emphasize with the patient and communicate with them on a basis that would make them feel comfortable in the office. Hence, if med school does not train prospective doctors how to communicate with patients, it is difficult for them to acquire this knowledge. Clearly some doctors can just be outright rude as can anyone in any profession. Thus, maybe adding more emphasis to patient/doctor communication should be more important than it is, in order to create a more comfortable environment for the patient. In conclusion, in any profession that works with other people it can be difficult to meet the needs of everyone, however things can be done that at least show an effort in trying to meet those needs.
I cannot agree more with your idea, though I can totally understand that doctors are required to be objective and reasonable as professional requirement. From the textbook, we know that being caring is an important element in health care communication ethics. Someone may say, there are doctors pay special attention on psychological health, but it doesn't mean that every doctor should not care for patients' emotional and psychological needs.
ReplyDeleteI still could remember that one of my best friends here, who had a appendicitis and was in need of a emergency operation. I was just aside of her, she was suffering and afraid of drawing blood for a test. She was so scared and tearful, her blood pressure even raised evidently, but the nurse did not stop even for a while and comfort her. It is understandable that medical professionals should achieve some specific goals in the process of healing, but it actually does not matter to chat with patients to ease their tension, especially patients know how severe their diseases. "Caring" about patients' emotional needs are equivalently significant.
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