The importance of the human touch in clinical medicine

One of the most ingredients in healthcare is the personal relationship between the doctor and the patient. Unfortunately , we sometimes tend to undervalue the importance of this; and it's only when we are actually sick ourselves and need a doctor do we understand the value of having an actual human being who can hold our hand and provide comfort .Unfortunately , the bureaucrats who assign the dollars which make the health system run, underestimate its healing value, because they are sitting ensconced in their ivory towers . Because this is an intangible, which cannot be captured in numbers or tracked, they fail to understand its significance, and try to replace it with things which they can measure ! Sadly, not everything which measures can be counted,  and not everything which counts can be measured .Let’s look at an IVF patient who goes to a super-busy clinic with a large team of doctors, as compared to one who selects a small clinic with only 1 doctor. While it's true that there are advantages in a group practice , one problem that recurs is that you often don't get a chance to see your personal physician every time . In fact, you may not even see the same doctor each time, because it’s the doctor who happens to be on duty that day who will do your egg collection or your embryo transfer. While this helps the clinic  to improve its efficiency and throughput, it also makes your care more impersonal; and you need to try to create an emotional  connection wi...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Tags: Clinic Health In vitro fertilisation Health care patient Embryo transfer Physician Doctor-patient relationship Source Type: blogs