To the doctor, illness is a disease process that can be measured and understood through laboratory tests and clinical observations. To the patient, illness is a disrupted life. The doctor s focus is more on keeping up with the rapid advances in medical science than on trying to understand the patient s feelings and concerns. Yet patient satisfaction comes primarily from a sense of being heard and understood. Yet patients often feel devalued when their illness is reduced to mechanical process.
Doctors feel frustrated, even betrayed, when patients withhold pertinent information.
Yet patients who use alternative medicine, for example, may not tell their doctors for fear of ridicule or being labeled as flaky or gullible. Yet we are less dependent on the doctor for information and decision making. All these changes are unsettling for both doctors and patients. Then there s the blame factor. Doctors often blame patients when communication breaks down.