Does a doctor's approach make a difference?

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  • eddie8131
    eddie8131 Posts: 600 Member
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    It totally depends on the patient's personality I think. I have a very sensitive personality, so if you yell at me, I pretty much "shut down". My regular doctor (internist) pretty much would just yell at me, "you need to lose weight, blah blah blah"...and my favorite line, "what haaaaapened". Recently I have been going to this cardiologist and she had a more calm and nuturing approach. She did something very motivating to me in July of this year she said, you are coming back here in 6 months. Why not in that time lose 20 pounds. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT. See that is the key, is convincing people that they can do it. So when I go on Jan. 25th, 2012, I will have lost about 70 pounds and I think she will need a cardiologist herself. Oh yeah it is all good. :)))
  • cramernh
    cramernh Posts: 3,335 Member
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    It totally depends on the patient's personality I think. I have a very sensitive personality, so if you yell at me, I pretty much "shut down". My regular doctor (internist) pretty much would just yell at me, "you need to lose weight, blah blah blah"...and my favorite line, "what haaaaapened". Recently I have been going to this cardiologist and she had a more calm and nuturing approach. She did something very motivating to me in July of this year she said, you are coming back here in 6 months. Why not in that time lose 20 pounds. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT. See that is the key, is convincing people that they can do it. So when I go on Jan. 25th, 2012, I will have lost about 70 pounds and I think she will need a cardiologist herself. Oh yeah it is all good. :)))


    Pardon me while I have a South Park moment and say.....

    "SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
  • amiller7x7
    amiller7x7 Posts: 202 Member
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    It totally depends on the patient's personality I think. I have a very sensitive personality, so if you yell at me, I pretty much "shut down". My regular doctor (internist) pretty much would just yell at me, "you need to lose weight, blah blah blah"...and my favorite line, "what haaaaapened". Recently I have been going to this cardiologist and she had a more calm and nuturing approach. She did something very motivating to me in July of this year she said, you are coming back here in 6 months. Why not in that time lose 20 pounds. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT. See that is the key, is convincing people that they can do it. So when I go on Jan. 25th, 2012, I will have lost about 70 pounds and I think she will need a cardiologist herself. Oh yeah it is all good. :)))

    a) Great results due to your efforts to lose the weight!

    b) I agree that the message conveyed has to be honest & comprehensive but if the doctor is really interested in the patient, then the message also needs to be delivered in a manner in which that patient can internalize it and make informed decisions. Being "blunt" without understanding if that is an effective communication style seems to me to indicate a true lack of caring about the patient. People are quite different between each other on what constitutes a motivating message - the end game is that the patient has to make the lifestyle changes, therefore the message needs to help the patient rather than the medical person just "checking the box" on saying "I told them so" . The key here is to have a meaningful communicating relationship between the doctor and patient - and this can take time which, to be fair to the doctors, they often find difficult to find...

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