I have a feeling that this cartoon might rub some people the wrong way. Although, on Fun Friday’s I’m never one to not share something as funny as this.
The key discussion point in this cartoon is doctors’ frustration with patients who are already “self-diagnosed.” Rational people know that there’s a need for balance and respect, but not everyone is rational. Patients should respect the doctor and collaborate with them in their diagnosis process. If patients aren’t careful it’s easy to see how it can go too far and show a lack of respect to the doctor. That said….
It’s also easy to see how doctors can be disrespectful to patients. In today’s #HITsm chat, Erin Gilmer commented that patients wanted to be treated as equals. I suggested that “equals” wasn’t the right term since they weren’t equals. Doctors know some things that patients don’t know and patients know some things that doctors don’t know.
Erin then suggested the term “respected” which is what I used above and I think is a great term to describe how the doctor-patient interaction should be. They should equally respect each other. If that were the case, the above cartoon wouldn’t be so funny.
