With too much attention focused on the cost of health care, the caring side of health care has suffered. The perception among some people is that medicine has changed for the worse. And as any public relations person worth their salt will tell you, perception is reality. So we better get about the business of embracing the roots of this profession. We must change the culture of medicine and embrace the needs and values of our patients so we can reestablish personal bonds, and we will need help from the payers of care to allow patients the opportunity to maintain those bonds and not disrupt them every 12 months.
Medicine treats people at their most vulnerable moment.
In some situations, our patients find themselves in embarrassing, sometimes degrading situations, wrapped up in ill-fitting gowns and offering up blood and urine for various tests. Health care is scary enough when patients are on stretchers and forced to look wide-eyed at blinding overhead lights. We must remember that antiseptic applies to the cleanliness of the facilities, not the personalities. Unfortunately, more attention is paid to the business bottom line in health care. That patient is a feeling, thinking person who has come to us for help.