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Unfortunately there are very few of us in the medical profession that
have not experienced the same story as told by the "Hot Buttons" article.
I doubt that a month goes by in which I could not repeat the same story of
a friend or neighbor asking why a certain occurence has happened to
another friend or relative who is an in-patient. Not only may the nurses
be poorly responsive but in too many situations the physicians are not
responsive to the family needs. What can be equally distressing is to
contact the treating physician only to be put off and not given the
courtesy of a reply to questions regarding the patients care. It really
makes one wonder what has happened to the medical profession when this
occurs.
I spoke recently to a physician caring for a friend's father. He was over
a thousand miles away and didn't know me or even know that I would be
calling to inquire about his patient. Compared to me he was a young man
but had a wonderful personal way of discussing his patient's care and
understood that my friend was concerned and that obtaining information
through family members was difficult. I would hope that some day I could
meet this physician because he comes from my era where the physician was
listed in the phone book and stopped by the house to see patients rather
than insist they come to the office when such a trip would be inconvenient
or difficult.
I now work daily to improve the quality of medical care, but wonder why I
can buy a quality car but can't get quality medical care. I will cotinue
to strive for the best.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
24 February 2005
Ted W. Grisell
Medical Director
Health Care Excel, 2629 Waterfront Pkway Indianapolis, IN 46214
The article titled 'Hot Buttons and Quality' was surely read with
mounting disquiet by most BMJ readers. In addition to raising the
important issues discussed, the fact that a close family member was unable
to get their point across is a gross neglect of care. Not only were the
nursing staff unable or unwilling to listen to the concerns of the family
- which from personal experience is usually high on the concerns of the
stroke team - they family themselves seem to have been too intimidated to
voice their concerns.
The old adage "Dr. knows best," doesn't imply that "dr. won't
listen." While we often are frustrated by aggressive and 'picky' relatives
in our day to day clinical care, in this situation - as in others - the
simple five minutes it would have taken to listen would have made all the
difference.
Sad Refrain
Unfortunately there are very few of us in the medical profession that
have not experienced the same story as told by the "Hot Buttons" article.
I doubt that a month goes by in which I could not repeat the same story of
a friend or neighbor asking why a certain occurence has happened to
another friend or relative who is an in-patient. Not only may the nurses
be poorly responsive but in too many situations the physicians are not
responsive to the family needs. What can be equally distressing is to
contact the treating physician only to be put off and not given the
courtesy of a reply to questions regarding the patients care. It really
makes one wonder what has happened to the medical profession when this
occurs.
I spoke recently to a physician caring for a friend's father. He was over
a thousand miles away and didn't know me or even know that I would be
calling to inquire about his patient. Compared to me he was a young man
but had a wonderful personal way of discussing his patient's care and
understood that my friend was concerned and that obtaining information
through family members was difficult. I would hope that some day I could
meet this physician because he comes from my era where the physician was
listed in the phone book and stopped by the house to see patients rather
than insist they come to the office when such a trip would be inconvenient
or difficult.
I now work daily to improve the quality of medical care, but wonder why I
can buy a quality car but can't get quality medical care. I will cotinue
to strive for the best.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests