I just happened across this information and felt it may be beneficial to many of us looking in from the other side as patients.

March 2011 Consumer Reports had an article what doc's wish their patents knew.

In it, it reported a survey of 660 primary care docs who had a lot to say about their professional challenges-about what patients could do to get the most out of their relationship with their doc's.

Some highlights of the article...

• Docs & patients put a high value on courtesy & professionalism.
• Patients aren't taking full advantage of strategies that doc's think are helpful. like taking notes during their visits.
• Not knowing much up front about a doc's personality or treatment style was a real obstacle for patients in search of a good match.

Some of the headings in the article...

Doc's take the long view(doc's say that forming a long-term relationship with a primary care doc is the most important thing a patient can do to obtain better medical care, with 76% saying it would help very much.

Respect is a two way street. 70% said that since they had started practicing medicine, respect & appreciation from patients has gotten a little or much worse.

Please take your medicine--most said it affected their ability to provide optimal care. but some patient its not just non compliance, its disorganization,side affects, don't fully understand the treatment or what they are suppose to do. Doc's need to make these issues safe for a patient to bring up.

Pain is tough to treat doc's were harder on themselves about this issue than were patients only 37% of doc's thought they were very effective but 60% thought they were somewhat effective. 79% of patients thought their docs helped to minimize their discomfort.

The discrepancy is thought to be because patients were only thinking about their own condition where doc's were thinking about all their patients, including the ones with chronic conditions that were difficult to treat.

It helps to keep track your self they want you to know it helps to keep track of your medical history yourself. 89% said keeping an informal log of treatments,drugs, changes in condition,note from previous visits, test & procedures can be helpful.

But only 33% of patients routinely do so.
and 80% of doc's thought taking a a friend or relative to your office visit could be beneficial but only 28% of patients did.

Research online, but carefully 61% of patients were very enthusiastic about online research. 61% reported they read about their condition online first. Doc's were less convinced online research was helpful. almost half those surveyed said it helps very little or not at all. Just 8% thought it very helpful.

Docs are pressed for time doc's said with the sheer volume of insurance paperwork was #1 on their list of things that interfere with their ability to provide optimal treatment. Next was financial pressures that may force them to work more than 50 hours per week seeing about 100 patients. That doesn't mean you should be satisfied with hasty care. Patients who perceived they were being rushed were less satisfied with their care & were--thought symptoms were dismissed & were uncertain what to do after the visit.

You can't do much about it, but be aware of burdensome health care rules by reading through your policy and understanding your health care coverage.

Doc's talk to drug salespeople they talk to drug companies more than you realize. Majority of docs surveyed said pharmaceutical reps contacted them at lest 10 times a month. 36% said they were contacted more than 20 times a month.

Doc's are skeptical of a patient's need to know about malpractice claims or professional disciplinary actions 47% said its of little value to a patient to know. 17% said the actions by medical licensing board was very valuable.

To find your state's medical board at the federation of state & medical board website at... www.fsmb.org or try your state health department.

Good info. Even though they mentioned that Respect and appreciation works both ways, little was said about the Docs show of respect for the patient.

I agree! The best Doctor I had treated my with the most respect, of course it was returned. There were many times I could see tears in his eyes when we would talk about my symptoms. I always felt bad, he had the same look my husband gets when I'm in pain and there is nothing he can do. But he was more helpful than any other doctor.

Too bad he retired last year But he deserves it more than anyone I know.

I'm pretty sure that article was also in Consumer Reports. (think that's the magazine my dad gets) because I just read it in a magazine last week. I have to find the magazine in the junk pit also known as my closet to make sure tho.

Maybe we should write an article about things we think a doctor should know about the patient

#1the patient does have a face! It's right above the chart. Just look up and you will see it. It's not hidden

I think this should answer your question Erin.

I love that there are many good MDs out there that really do want to help you, BUT you must weed thru some frogs before you find your prince. I being in the medical field had just enough knowledge to know I was being dismissed. The termonology used like "malingering" or other such tags would really make me mad. Once and MD told me "look, I cant give you any pain pills!" WOW! did i ASK for any? NO! I asked you to help me figure out why I keep getting headaches. There are many MDs out there who are over booked, over scheduled and keep you waiting a very long time to make it to the back, only to be kept waiting again. Then they breeze in take 2 secs and are gone with the wave of their RX pad.

It was only once I found a really good patient MD who wanted to figure out what was wrong that I started to appreciate them as a breed. Before him, even tho I was seeing the best of the best I was quickly dismissed because I was young, appeared healthy (but you look so good!) and went to work in a hard job. After retiring and finding my current gem I came to see them as a different breed.

Even the MDs (and there were many) that came to the prisons to treat the inmates were dismissive. it was very rare for them to actually listen and want to follow thru. 99.9% of the time they simply wanted to run out the clock and get out of there. We as the nurses would have to literally lead them thru the "suspects" before they would slow down. Before we would bring this young man in we would say "yeah, we know he is here for a sore throat, but many of us are thinking that he has strep, or mono or whatever and then he would zone in on our dx."

I love that there are some good ones out there, but I had to kiss a bunch of frogs to find mine.