The Doctor-Patient Relationship

Doctors are in a unique, influential, poweful position in taking care of patients. They are priviliged and trusted with intimate details of their patients' lives with the expectation that they will be understanding and professional in advocating for the most appropriate treatment plan for each patient. Treating the patient requires an understanding of their disease and their personhood - their desires, beliefs, and worries, in addition to having a warm beside manner. But the doctor-patient relationship can vary widely by specialty, and it can manifest as anything from "following someone’s hypertension for 10 years" in internal medicine or family practice to "what you have when someone gives you a chart with a patient’s name on it" in emergency medicine. In radiology, pathology, or any specialty that does not involve much patient interaction, there is no doctor-patient relationship - but as we have seen, some doctors in these specialties can come up with interesting ways to connect with their cases as human beings simply through looking at a picture.

A healthy doctor-patient relationship can make every difference in patient compliance, but its effectiveness has been limited. Recent developments in health care have changed the game completely by sterilizing the interaction between doctor and patient. Declining time spent actually speaking with patients, the emergence of the informed patient, and fear of litigation, among other things, have created an environment in which a new kind of doctor-patient relationship must form. Striking the correct balance of efficiency and warmth in this system is a challenge, and one that may become easier with time as health care reform is legislated.