MK,
I agree with you in essence but please remember that communication efforts
should be universal, not just those who have difficulty speaking.
Communication is a two-way street and patients need to tell their doctors
to stop and listen. I do and my doctor appreciates it. It's not just the
speech-impaired who have problems, it's also those who are nervous, those
who are elderly, those who don't want to "waste the doctor's time," etc.,
etc. I think everyone needs to come in with a list of questions at the
very least.
My sister helps train local medical students the importance of listening to
their patients, and I understand more medical schools and teaching
hospitals are training their interns and residents the art of
communication. So all is not lost! And if you're wondeirng, my sister is a
teaching professor at a local university.
Kat
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Mary Powers [log in to unmask]
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 13:08:03 -0400
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: managed care
Hello,
I actually agree with you about all of the other sources of blame. I
know insurance companies are very powerful as well. It is hard for
doctors to fight this.
I do think though, that b/c doctors have stopped listening, that that
has particularly bad effects on anyone who cannot speak quickly,
clearly, or comprehensibly. and that includes a lot of people with
disabilities but it also includes most of us with mental illness,
severe.
I am much better/in remission but the problem for me was lack of
insight. that plus speech problems related to CP meant I would go into
doctors' offices and sit in frozen silence or talk in a way that was
very difficult to understand.
through a combination of talk therapy, medication, a couple of
hospitalizations, and a lot of work on my own on communicating, I have
insight and much improved speech capacity.
one thing that might help is training people how to talk to doctors.
this is something I am working on.
library science has a concept called 'health literacy' and it involves
the concept that when doctors provide information, patients need to be
able to understand it.
but then there is also talking to the doctor, and that is a skill.
what do I say and how many issues do I bring up and etc? I have
learned to write things out in advance and try to list a couple of
issues and prioritize.
I can't do anything about all of the abuses and etc. that go on but I
think teaching doctors and patients to talk more effectively,
developing principles and sharing them *in a way that does not blame
either patients or doctors* would really help.
as for the rest of it, I hope for reform. the doctors I am working
with say that there are a lot of people working on this in different
ways.
take care,
Mary Katherine
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 12:57 pm
Subject: Re: managed care (was Re: Pajamas Media > Sarah Palin's Baby
and the Rights of the Disabled ?)
You can blame several sources for this:
1) An insurance paradigm that emphasizes costs over benefits
2) A government that shifts funds away from health care towards other
needs
such as war
3) A government that isn't willing to increase taxes so we can take
care of
our own
4) Doctors who have less time to listen to their patients and are
encouraged by lower reimbursement rates to maximise their patient loads
at
the cost of attentiveness to their patients
and 5) Businesses who can't afford to provide adequate coverage in their
medical plans to their employees and families
The shift to not listening is everywhere, not just with the disabled.
Kat
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