The Doctor-Patient Relationship...not so fast...welcome to the PATIENT-Doctor Relationship.
The Doctor-Patient Relationship...not so fast...welcome to the PATIENT-Doctor Relationship.
The dynamic between healthcare providers and patients has long been criticized for its inherent contradictions and even hypocrisies.
We call ourselves "healthcare" providers when we often focus more on providing "sick" care or treating conditions after they have already manifested, rather than emphasizing preventative or true "health"care. We claim to be "primary" care providers, yet we often find ourselves functioning as secondary or tertiary care providers, reacting to issues that could have been prevented if we truly fulfilled our role as primary care providers (such as addressing obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and more).
Perhaps the most fundamentally flawed aspect is the belief that the doctor is in charge - from scheduling appointments based on the doctor's availability to the assumption that the doctor is the ultimate decision-maker and possesses all the answers. This goes against the concept of being truly patient-centric.