Doctor-Patient Dynamic: How to Choose the Best Practitioner for You

Dr. Singhal’s recommendations on how to find the right doctor when you are diagnosed with cancer

Choosing The Right Physician

When choosing the right, or “best” physician, the first step for a cancer patient is to remember that they’re choosing the best physician for them, as an individual. This takes into account the definition of health and our goals for healing and wellness. The best physician is one who shares our perspective on health so that they can give us guidance and recommendations that are in accordance with how cancer patient wants to care for their body.

The feeling of being powerless is one of the worst side effects of coping with a medical condition and the last thing you need is a power struggle between cancer patients and their doctor. If cancer patients feel like less than an equal partner in their own health care, certain strategies can help restore balance.

Doctor-Patient Communication

In Dr. Singhal's experience, most people, including physicians, rely on personal references to find a good doctor. But what does a patient do when they’re far from home, or they don’t know anyone with firsthand knowledge of local doctors? Effective doctor-patient communication is central to building a therapeutic doctor-patient relationship, which is the heart and art of medicine. This is important in the delivery of high-quality health care. Much patient dissatisfaction and many complaints are due to breakdown in the doctor-patient relationship. However, many doctors tend to overestimate their ability in communication. Over the years, much has been published in the literature on this important topic.

Effective Communication Is Crucial

Regardless of the type of practitioner you need, you'll want to be sure you can communicate effectively, in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Many patients complain that they can't understand their doctors' use of medical terms, or that they don't feel as if their providers listen to them, or give them enough time.

Sometimes those problems are due to a disregard for the needs of the patient. Other times there are good explanations. Respectful communication requires understanding on the parts of both doctors and patients to get beyond those hurdles.

"If a patient walks into the doctor's office and they feel intimidated, patients should trust those feelings," says Dr. Singhal. For example, when a doctor projects arrogance and makes their patients feel uncomfortable, that's a key sign of a bad doctor-patient relationship.

Another sign is meeting some sort of resistance whenever cancer patients ask their doctor some reasonable question. The same holds true if their doctor discourages them from seeking a second opinion.

Ask For Referrals

On the other side, asking for referrals can be tricky when doctor-patient trust is lacking, because patients at times don't know how objective the second opinion might be. So it would be smart to do some investigation on our own, says Dr. Singhal.

It takes just a couple of seconds on average for doctors to interrupt when patients are talking. "You feel that you're not being heard, and assumptions are being made that may or may not be true about you," Dr. Singhal says. But "you can re-engage the doctor and say, 'Look, may I finish my list?'"

If cancer patients need extra support in speaking up, they should consider taking a family member, neighbor or patient advocate along to their next appointment.

What Is A Good Physician

Good physicians keep up on the ever-changing world of health, wellness, and medicine, including the latest studies on the science of nutrition, mind-body medicine, and stress management. The amount of information and number of studies is increasing year by year, and it’s not acceptable for doctors to practice what we learned 20 years ago. That information is outdated and in many cases, just plain wrong. Our doctor should be willing to learn along with us. And because new studies are being done all the time, both doctors and patients should be accepting of the fact that it can take some research to find the best solution for a given patient.

Recent Medical Practice

It’s also no longer enough to know what tests to run to diagnose disease, which guidelines to follow to treat a certain disease, or what medication or procedure to use for a particular condition. In fact, many “standard” medical practices are quickly becoming outdated as research continues to advance. For example, the standardized parameters for “healthy” cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels that have been used for years have recently been called into question. Modern medicine is moving towards individualizing care and looking at what’s best for each patient, as opposed to making the same recommendations for everyone. Recent research suggests that we need to focus not only on a particular test value but on the patient.

Different Specialists For The Same Symptom

There are many different specialists treating the same symptom — depending on its underlying cause. For example, back pain — should a patient see a primary care physician, an orthopedist, a neurosurgeon, an anesthesiologist, a hematologist, or a rehab specialist to evaluate the symptoms? That depends on the cause of the pain, which might not yet be evident to us. The first step to finding a good physician is to figure out which type is best suited to our potential diagnosis. Bouncing from specialist to specialist can be costly, so if patients are not sure which kind of physician specializes in treating their specific disease or condition, they should start with a primary care physician first.