What lessons can be learned when doctors become patients

Posted 03/06/2014

The BMJ Careers reported that many doctors who become patients have been shocked by their experiences from “the other side.” They are concerned about the treatment they have received and the way they have treated patients in the past. The transition from being a healthcare provider to a patient can be eye opening.

The author Jonathon Tomlinson looks at what doctors can learn from their experience. His research shows that doctors as patients realised how poorly doctors give bad news; how doctors fail to see a patient as a person, and how important it is to spend time with patients.

Rosaline Wong, a medical injury lawyerat Ashtons Legal, says: “When doctors become patients, many begin to recognise flaws in the healthcare system that had previously gone unnoticed. What may seem to doctors as minor inconveniences, such as long waiting times and crowded waiting areas, become a really big annoyance when they are the patient.

Even the most conscientious doctors may not fully appreciate the condition of being a patient. When doctors who usually call the shots are left to feel less autonomous, when they experience first hand what being a patient is like, they develop a better understanding of the daily struggles patients face.

From time to time my injured clients reported that their doctors are unsympathetic and seemingly indifferent to their chronic pain symptoms and discomfort. Some complained about the poor care they have received.

I am not suggesting that doctors need to become ill patients in order to understand patient experience but I believe that time spent as a patient should be an integral part of medical education. The opportunity to be on ‘the other side’ gives doctors a window to experience life as a patient, to look through the eyes of those they treat so that they develop compassion and empathy and become better equipped to serve the needs of their patients”.

To read the full article go to: http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=20017843