- Joined
- Dec 2, 2007
- Messages
- 136
- Reaction score
- 3
Few things set off warning bells of a greater intensity than patients who have the desire to be taken care of in a capacity that the health care setting (that they presented to) cannot accommodate.
In my ~7 months on the wards as a third-year student (admittedly--my experiences are limited), I've seen so many patients who want to spend forever telling me rather detailed information about stuff going on in their lives that are currently causing them stress. That's been in both inpatient and outpatient rotations.
Also, predominantly in my primary care rotation, I've seen patients who come in with so many health issues where 15 minutes is not even close to sufficient. Yet the reason they probably don't make enough visits is because it's challenging for them to get to the office (mainly the time it takes to arrange transportation when you don't have a car), thus shifting the burden of time management onto the residents and attendings. It's not like the majority of patients don't face the same transportation challenges they do. In addition, there's also the occasional patient who presents for a medical reason and happens to "split" and provide you with huge amounts of praise, thus passive aggressively requiring more of your attention and time be spent with him/her.
As a med student, I do have time to listen (it seems like most people who want large amounts of your time just want someone to listen to them) because luckily I've worked with residents who require minimal amounts of scut on all of my rotations. But how do you all deal with patients who are there for a cholecystectomy that want your time when you actually don't have the time? How do you work with a patient who scheduled an office visit for a follow up for headaches, who wants to talk about his home situation, but also happens to have an ear infection and CAD, HTN, high cholesterol, etc. that you probably should also be addressing? It seems like what patients sometimes want is a little empathy. And for a subgroup of patients, once they get that, they want more, and then more, and more piled on top of that.
How do you identify and deal with patients who try to take advantage of the situation? I guess what I'm trying to say is that meeting the needs of all patients is challenging, considering what a certain group of them want from you. So how do you limit their sometimes excessive requests in a way that is reasonable for your needs as a clinician providing medical care for several patients, while still meeting each patient's needs as the clinician who is caring for that particular person? How do you even know what is a reasonable boundary?
In my ~7 months on the wards as a third-year student (admittedly--my experiences are limited), I've seen so many patients who want to spend forever telling me rather detailed information about stuff going on in their lives that are currently causing them stress. That's been in both inpatient and outpatient rotations.
Also, predominantly in my primary care rotation, I've seen patients who come in with so many health issues where 15 minutes is not even close to sufficient. Yet the reason they probably don't make enough visits is because it's challenging for them to get to the office (mainly the time it takes to arrange transportation when you don't have a car), thus shifting the burden of time management onto the residents and attendings. It's not like the majority of patients don't face the same transportation challenges they do. In addition, there's also the occasional patient who presents for a medical reason and happens to "split" and provide you with huge amounts of praise, thus passive aggressively requiring more of your attention and time be spent with him/her.
As a med student, I do have time to listen (it seems like most people who want large amounts of your time just want someone to listen to them) because luckily I've worked with residents who require minimal amounts of scut on all of my rotations. But how do you all deal with patients who are there for a cholecystectomy that want your time when you actually don't have the time? How do you work with a patient who scheduled an office visit for a follow up for headaches, who wants to talk about his home situation, but also happens to have an ear infection and CAD, HTN, high cholesterol, etc. that you probably should also be addressing? It seems like what patients sometimes want is a little empathy. And for a subgroup of patients, once they get that, they want more, and then more, and more piled on top of that.
How do you identify and deal with patients who try to take advantage of the situation? I guess what I'm trying to say is that meeting the needs of all patients is challenging, considering what a certain group of them want from you. So how do you limit their sometimes excessive requests in a way that is reasonable for your needs as a clinician providing medical care for several patients, while still meeting each patient's needs as the clinician who is caring for that particular person? How do you even know what is a reasonable boundary?
