I hope my American readers had a good Memorial Day weekend, and for my non-American readers I hope your Monday was not Garfield-esque and reminiscent of another morose work week.
Unfortunately, my weekend was a bit busier than I expected and I was unable to work on my May post. So now as I shuffle through several windows and a few dozen tabs of papers I wanted to provide a bit of an interlude in the meantime.
While looking for papers I came across this article from 2002 in which doctors were asked what is a “good doctor” and “how do you make one”. Doctors provided a few insights and answers in regards to the topic which were compiled in the article.
At a time where we are reevaluating the patient/medical industry relationship, I thought it would be nice to ask you all what concerns you have with doctors, the practice of medicine, and science as a whole. I think there are a few points made in the above article that you may otherwise agree or disagree with.
So I open the floor to you all (while I fumble through all my tabs and read through these papers) to provide an open discussion and your own perspective of what would constitute a good doctor, and what would you like to see/not see.
I write as an RN Class of '69 trained in one of the Best training hospitals in the country along side medical students to Cardiology Fellows. Samuel Shem wrote House of God in the '70s and then at the end of his career Man's 4th Best Hospital. We both got to practice before the Industrial Insurance Complex became interlopers between the doctor & patient. In his 2nd book, Shem describes how things naturally change when the EMR goes down. Doctors returned to looking and listening to their patients instead of a computer screen w/mouse clicks. Doctoring would do well to return to independent practice and avoidance of all conflict of interests with pharma & hospitals. Ethics should be a required part of medical school and training.
Part of the art of practicing medicine and nursing is developing that 6th sense for what's happening and what may be best for this one individual. Developing that extra sense requires interacting with many patients rather than computer algorithms.
Imagine paying an affordable monthly subscription to a physician who would see you as a whole person for as long as needed to resolve your illness and promote your well-being. There are such business models. Physicians have income, avoid insurance costs & annoyance and patients again have faith in their care without the cost of obscene premiums.
I'm a retired doctorate level mental health professional. When managed care started taking over the market 25 years ago, the "managers" told us to outright lie to our patients about their coverage. Providers became demoralized and even turned on each other. I was happy to retire from this broken, unethical system. It is terrible for providers and patients alike. Welcome to the sad world of socialized medicine.
I revere science, but long ago academia and government it killed it and replaced it with political activism, money grubbing, and asinine woke fantasies. COVID policies stomped on the grave and killed many. "Trust the Science?" I trust the concept, but I do NOT trust the fake scientists who took it over. Peer review, aka "Pal Review" has become a farce.
Too many doctors, including their professional guilds, have become brainwashed, corporate shills who treat their patients like ignorant children. I'm truly horrified that the entire medical profession did not immediately condemn FORCED treatment (the failed COVID vaccines), FORCED useless masks that cause more harm than good (this has been known for decades), and the punishment of good doctors who try to help their patients with treatments far less harmful than the mandated ones. Not to mention the devstating impact of lockdowns, school closures, etc. They abandoned their patients and failed society. Many of the good ones retired, further culling the herd of competent, ethical providers.
I have had brilliant doctors, especially surgeons, who provided fantastic care with compassion and wisdom. They have become harder and harder to find. Kudos to them all. Special recognition to the few who openly condemn the crimes against humanity COVID policies. Many paid a big price and they are heroes.
Patients cannot trust the corrupt and broken medical system. They must do their own research, always get second opinions, be prepared to become persistent advocates for themselves and their loved ones, and doggedly seek out ethical physicians who will listen. One good thing that came out of COVID was the rise of telemedicine. This enables patients to seek out good doctors in other locations.
Should a doctor and surgeon explain that when a 86 year has major heart surgery, chances are pretty good that he won’t be the same afterwards? Shouldn’t they tell all the things that can go wrong and not act like it’s a piece of cake?
Shouldn’t a doctor tell you about adverse effects before prescribing a statin or other medication? When questioned about it because you have tried to find out, should a doctor blow you off by saying it’s just a tiny dose?
Shouldn’t a doctor tell you how vaccines are made? What? They don’t even know?
Shouldn’t a doctor have some empathy for patients?
Isn’t it a doctor’s duty to first, “Do no harm?” Shouldn’t doctors be creative thinkers and not just protocol followers.
A good doctor is one who knows their field and tries to find out about other ones in which he has less experience. Think of the many doctors who swallowed the vax line, hook and sinker. Perhaps they would’ve been more hesitant if they knew more about immunology and the history of vaccines instead of taking for granted what they learned in med school.
A good doctor should also, like a good human being, have the guts to speak out when he knows something is wrong. He should be open to dissident voices within medicine bc that’s how actual knowledge and science grow.
I have used many types of medicine, with high praise to surgeons who, on the whole, seem to want to improve outcomes all the time.
I have also had success with chronic depression and meds.
However, I am also open to other modalities, such as nutrition and homeopathy, both of which have helped me.
In general I think modern medicine is pretty good at trauma and acute illness and pretty lousy at chronic issues.
The Covid thing was, imho, a complete and total disaster and showed what can happen when 1. Federal agencies are captured by Pharma and 2. Governments realize they can obtain more control than they ever dreamed by hyping fear of death.
I write this as someone who was an RN in the late 70s early 80s, married to a retired integrative, functional family practice doc a dozen years ago..
First realize that medical training as it is, is perfectly designed to brainwash medical students and residents to the model of a pill for every ill. The level of stress, badgering, lack of sleep, lack of love, threat of not making it, the military model of education, will conspire to create doctors who look at computer screens and not the patient. Freshly minted doctors are burdened with excessive debt, and become cogs in a machine who's goal is profit, and limits patient contact to ten or fifteen minutes. So we have a system perfectly designed to get the results it gets.
One of my wife's mentors used to teach: "None of this works without love." And if you see med students and residents, you see that love is nowhere to be found.
Contrast this with the training for naturopathic medicine. You see students eating healthy food, a camaraderie, an openness that is lacking in MD education. In practitioners, you find NDs who actually take time to listen, touch and examine, lol at the whole person. What a concept!
The return to critical thinking and learning good diagnostic skills would be awesome. Allowing PRACTING Physicians to be in charge would make a huge difference.
It appears that many well meaning Doc's have decided what is wrong before the patient has finshed their explaination ( which considering most Doc's working in institutional/corporate groups are given about 7-10 minutes with their patient). It feels like cattle car medicine these days. Can't remember the last time I was given an appointment for a followup after receiving medication to make sure it had worked. Unfortunately the new corporate age has reduced the ability for doctors to really be doctors and many of the good ones are getting out early or giving up and following the script in order to have an income. It makes me incredibly sad and I now have little faith in these people who have worked so hard getting through a difficult education regiment to graduate and discover that following the script is the only way to survive. Thanks for allowing me to rant.
Simple honesty would be a great start, but alas it's been proven missing. I can never again trust a white-coated clown because they're a doctor, indeed the opposite. I don't want a 2nd doctor's opinion; I want the opinion of someone who is NOT a doctor.
Was a time I'd address someone as 'Doctor' with respect. If I use the word now it's through tight lips and it's an insult.
I write as an RN Class of '69 trained in one of the Best training hospitals in the country along side medical students to Cardiology Fellows. Samuel Shem wrote House of God in the '70s and then at the end of his career Man's 4th Best Hospital. We both got to practice before the Industrial Insurance Complex became interlopers between the doctor & patient. In his 2nd book, Shem describes how things naturally change when the EMR goes down. Doctors returned to looking and listening to their patients instead of a computer screen w/mouse clicks. Doctoring would do well to return to independent practice and avoidance of all conflict of interests with pharma & hospitals. Ethics should be a required part of medical school and training.
Part of the art of practicing medicine and nursing is developing that 6th sense for what's happening and what may be best for this one individual. Developing that extra sense requires interacting with many patients rather than computer algorithms.
Imagine paying an affordable monthly subscription to a physician who would see you as a whole person for as long as needed to resolve your illness and promote your well-being. There are such business models. Physicians have income, avoid insurance costs & annoyance and patients again have faith in their care without the cost of obscene premiums.
I'm a retired doctorate level mental health professional. When managed care started taking over the market 25 years ago, the "managers" told us to outright lie to our patients about their coverage. Providers became demoralized and even turned on each other. I was happy to retire from this broken, unethical system. It is terrible for providers and patients alike. Welcome to the sad world of socialized medicine.
I revere science, but long ago academia and government it killed it and replaced it with political activism, money grubbing, and asinine woke fantasies. COVID policies stomped on the grave and killed many. "Trust the Science?" I trust the concept, but I do NOT trust the fake scientists who took it over. Peer review, aka "Pal Review" has become a farce.
Too many doctors, including their professional guilds, have become brainwashed, corporate shills who treat their patients like ignorant children. I'm truly horrified that the entire medical profession did not immediately condemn FORCED treatment (the failed COVID vaccines), FORCED useless masks that cause more harm than good (this has been known for decades), and the punishment of good doctors who try to help their patients with treatments far less harmful than the mandated ones. Not to mention the devstating impact of lockdowns, school closures, etc. They abandoned their patients and failed society. Many of the good ones retired, further culling the herd of competent, ethical providers.
I have had brilliant doctors, especially surgeons, who provided fantastic care with compassion and wisdom. They have become harder and harder to find. Kudos to them all. Special recognition to the few who openly condemn the crimes against humanity COVID policies. Many paid a big price and they are heroes.
Patients cannot trust the corrupt and broken medical system. They must do their own research, always get second opinions, be prepared to become persistent advocates for themselves and their loved ones, and doggedly seek out ethical physicians who will listen. One good thing that came out of COVID was the rise of telemedicine. This enables patients to seek out good doctors in other locations.
Should a doctor and surgeon explain that when a 86 year has major heart surgery, chances are pretty good that he won’t be the same afterwards? Shouldn’t they tell all the things that can go wrong and not act like it’s a piece of cake?
Shouldn’t a doctor tell you about adverse effects before prescribing a statin or other medication? When questioned about it because you have tried to find out, should a doctor blow you off by saying it’s just a tiny dose?
Shouldn’t a doctor tell you how vaccines are made? What? They don’t even know?
Shouldn’t a doctor have some empathy for patients?
Isn’t it a doctor’s duty to first, “Do no harm?” Shouldn’t doctors be creative thinkers and not just protocol followers.
A good doctor recognizes that medicine is as much an art as it is a science, and strives to excel in both.
A good doctor is one who knows their field and tries to find out about other ones in which he has less experience. Think of the many doctors who swallowed the vax line, hook and sinker. Perhaps they would’ve been more hesitant if they knew more about immunology and the history of vaccines instead of taking for granted what they learned in med school.
A good doctor should also, like a good human being, have the guts to speak out when he knows something is wrong. He should be open to dissident voices within medicine bc that’s how actual knowledge and science grow.
I have used many types of medicine, with high praise to surgeons who, on the whole, seem to want to improve outcomes all the time.
I have also had success with chronic depression and meds.
However, I am also open to other modalities, such as nutrition and homeopathy, both of which have helped me.
In general I think modern medicine is pretty good at trauma and acute illness and pretty lousy at chronic issues.
The Covid thing was, imho, a complete and total disaster and showed what can happen when 1. Federal agencies are captured by Pharma and 2. Governments realize they can obtain more control than they ever dreamed by hyping fear of death.
To Hell with it.
Unvaxxed and glad.
I write this as someone who was an RN in the late 70s early 80s, married to a retired integrative, functional family practice doc a dozen years ago..
First realize that medical training as it is, is perfectly designed to brainwash medical students and residents to the model of a pill for every ill. The level of stress, badgering, lack of sleep, lack of love, threat of not making it, the military model of education, will conspire to create doctors who look at computer screens and not the patient. Freshly minted doctors are burdened with excessive debt, and become cogs in a machine who's goal is profit, and limits patient contact to ten or fifteen minutes. So we have a system perfectly designed to get the results it gets.
One of my wife's mentors used to teach: "None of this works without love." And if you see med students and residents, you see that love is nowhere to be found.
Contrast this with the training for naturopathic medicine. You see students eating healthy food, a camaraderie, an openness that is lacking in MD education. In practitioners, you find NDs who actually take time to listen, touch and examine, lol at the whole person. What a concept!
So my answer to what makes a good doctor? Love.
The return to critical thinking and learning good diagnostic skills would be awesome. Allowing PRACTING Physicians to be in charge would make a huge difference.
It appears that many well meaning Doc's have decided what is wrong before the patient has finshed their explaination ( which considering most Doc's working in institutional/corporate groups are given about 7-10 minutes with their patient). It feels like cattle car medicine these days. Can't remember the last time I was given an appointment for a followup after receiving medication to make sure it had worked. Unfortunately the new corporate age has reduced the ability for doctors to really be doctors and many of the good ones are getting out early or giving up and following the script in order to have an income. It makes me incredibly sad and I now have little faith in these people who have worked so hard getting through a difficult education regiment to graduate and discover that following the script is the only way to survive. Thanks for allowing me to rant.
Simple honesty would be a great start, but alas it's been proven missing. I can never again trust a white-coated clown because they're a doctor, indeed the opposite. I don't want a 2nd doctor's opinion; I want the opinion of someone who is NOT a doctor.
Was a time I'd address someone as 'Doctor' with respect. If I use the word now it's through tight lips and it's an insult.