When undergoing a procedure or otherwise visiting a doctor for an uncomfortable reason, the last thing you want to experience in their office is someone cold or not empathetic discussing your medical needs. You want to work with a doctor that is informative but understanding of your discomfort and stress as a result of your condition. When you schedule an appointment with Dr. Miklos and Dr. Moore, bedside manner is just as important to them as providing you with a diagnosis and a solution. You can rest assured that the doctors will treat you with the utmost respect, understanding, and empathy all while delivering you the highest quality medical services possible. Time spent face to face with the doctor is also critical to having a consultation that you are satisfied with. Most doctors now are rushed and are forced to see many more patients than is practical on a day to day basis, which of course limits the amount of time with each patient. The patients feel they are being rushed out the door, many times with questions they still do not have the answers they were seeking. Drs. Miklos and Moore typically spend over an hour with each patient on consultation day in order to ensure each patient has time to understand their diagnosis, their treatment options and have all of their questions answered.
Dr. Miklos and Dr. Moore’s excellent bedside manner is good news for women seeking relief! Recent studies have indicated that a doctor’s bedside manner can greatly impact patients’ health, from increased weight loss efforts, lowering blood pressure, or managing painful symptoms. The beneficial effects of a good patient-clinician relationship are, surprisingly, of similar magnitude to many well-established medical treatments. Many of these treatments, while very important, need to balance their benefits against accompanying, unwanted side effects. It’s clear that there are no negative side effects of a good patient-doctor relationship.
What does poor bedside manner look like?
- Etiquette-Based Communication is ignored.
A Johns Hopkins University study revealed that patients are feeling more and more uncomfortable around younger doctors right out of medical school because they completely ignored several strategies of etiquette-based communication, including:
- Introducing themselves to patients;
- Explaining their role;
- Touching patients;
- Sitting down with the patient for conversation; and
- Asking open-ended questions, like “how are you feeling today?”
While some of the statistics were reasonable, such as asking patients open-ended questions 75 percent of the time it has been concluded that these efforts are not enough to truly connect. Dr Miklos and Moore have been in practice for over 20 years and understand the importance these basics of developing proper communication with patients.
- Doctors are Sharing Personal Stories.
This one might surprise you because social interactions often involve personal anecdotes. Well, those stories should stay at the coffee shop and out of the doctor’s office, because it turns out that the more physicians “overshare” with patients, the more their care suffers. Although it may seem totally natural to reveal to a patient that a family member suffered from the same condition or some other persona detail, such self-disclosures often turn out to be less helpful in addressing patients’ concerns or building rapport. There’s even a chance that patients will interpret this kind of disclosure as “disruptive.”
If appropriate for the situation, personal details should only be used to assist the patient, and the focus should be moved quickly back to them.
- Doctors are Failing to Uncover Patients’ Secrets
In a recent study, it is argued that many patients are reluctant to share all sorts of information with their doctors if they feel it will cast them in a bad light, or if it is a highly embarrassing topic. From alcohol consumption to urinary incontinence and/or sexual dysfunction, these touchy subjects are either not discussed at all or heavily under-discussed, and while it is important to remain on the kind side, doctors should push their patients to be as honest as possible in order for them to maintain healthy lives. In the most extreme cases, the urge to “save face” in the doctor’s office can cause a patient to conceal a drug problem or the extent of mental decline. Dr Miklos and Moore will discuss these issues with their patients and make them feel comfortable in doing so. Many patients state that NONE of their physicians ever even asked them about their sexual function or other sensitive issues that are very important to many women.
While you can’t force a patient in any capacity to divulge, the standard implements of the trade are long-forgotten, excellent ways to allow doctors to uncover many possible issues. For example, a physical examination can turn up track marks or swollen glands. Routine lab work can yield clues of many conditions that may not be visible from the outside.
Whatever is decided, a doctor should never go behind a patient’s back to uncover health problems; their privacy should always be protected.
It’s not too much of a surprise, right? Those who are respected and made to feel comfortable are not just more likely to return for follow up appointments and ask all the right questions – they’re also seeing health and their condition in a more positive, serious light. Just like a parent to a child, a good doctor motivates his or her patients to take the best care of themselves. Drs. Miklos and Moore strive for the sense of nurturing and kindness you need as a woman seeking relief, and can be relied upon to not only respect you as a patient, but also to make you feel welcomed, validated, and safe.