LEARN INSURANCE

I had just finished seeing a patient who came to me from Bangalore for IVF treatment , and before leaving the room, he turned around and said - " Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to us so patiently ! "

I was flummoxed ! After all, isn't listening to a patient a part of the doctor's job description ? Why was he thanking me for doing something which is so routine and mundane ?

When I asked my next patient why I was being thanked, he said - That's because you are so different from most other doctors, doc ! Most doctors just rush like automatons through a long line of patients. It's like they are just processing an assembly line of people - and they have 7 minutes in which to listen to you . They are always rushed and harassed - and it's very hard to have a decent convesration with them. Most of them are focused on the medical issue at hand - while some only speak medicalese, so it's hard to make sense of what they are saying. It's a pleasure to meet a doctor who can have an intelligent conversation and is interested in me as a person.

I love talking to my patients ! They come from all over the world and have interesting stories to share ! I am naturally curious and love learning new stuff. Doctors tend to get very inbred and talking shop to other doctors can get very boring and monotonous. Listening to patients talk about their professions helps me to get a better understanding of what's happening in the rest of the world and broadens my horizons. Patients are smart and intelligent and are happy to talk to their doctors . They are a great source of intelligence - and I am not just talking about hot stock tips here ! They teach me about what's happening in the online world and help me to keep my website ( and my wits) sharp and clear !

Patients have a lot to teach doctors - I just wished doctors opened their hearts and minds and took the time to listen and learn ! Doctors need to be reminded that they are uniquely privileged in being given a ringside view to a person's innermost desires and struggles when their patients are battling with some of the life's most difficult moments. A smart doctor can learn a lot from his patients - both how to live and how to die when the time comes - he just needs to be willing to do so !

Patientology is the study of patients - and this is a core skill which all doctors need to learn, even though there is no textbook or syllabus for this !

One way all doctors can become better patientologists is by teaching their patients how to become better patients ! Good patients make for good doctors - and it's possible to provide patients with a toolbox of skills which they can learn to help themselves.

These tools include teaching patients :

how to keep good medical records
how to talk to doctors
how to ask questions
how to do their homework
how to take care of themselves when they are in hospital

I know lots of doctors, but most of them are not very good at handling money. The fact that they got into medical college means they are bright and must have been in the top of their class, but most of them have very little business sense. Why is this so ?

Even though every clinic is a small business, most doctors have no exposure or training in business management . While they are very hard working and intelligent, they are often not good at managing other people or building teams.

Sadly, most of them are not willing to learn . One of the occupational hazards of being a doctor is that because they did so well academically, many of them they think they know it all , and cannot be taught anything. How sadly mistaken they are ! If you do not know what you do not know, how will you ever learn new stuff ?

Most doctors do not have role models they can emulate. Doctors are often intensely political and competitive. They are secretive and not willing to share what they have learnt with their colleagues - which means that most doctors have to make their own mistakes in order to get ahead.

Most doctors are in solo practise, which means they are stuck thinking small most of their lives. In their first decade of practise, they are so busy trying to attract patients, they they often lose sight of the big picture. By the time they become more mature, they are already ready to retire !

Sadly, giving cuts has become the norm today and most doctors are so used to taking shortcuts in order to build their practise, that they lose sight of basic customer service principles. This means that rather than spend time and energy keeping their patients happy, they waste a lot of it networking with colleagues who refer patients to them . Because these colleagues think the same way they do, there is very little attention paid to growing the business ethically.

Some senior doctors take a perverse pride in the fact that they are not interested in earning money ! They consider medicine to be a service profession and feel that earning money is below their dignity . They will often look down ( or pretend to do so ) upon doctors who are richer than they are.

Most doctors do not use technology cleverly. While they are often aware of the latest gadget and gizmo in their own specialty, they are often not smart enough to use technology for managing their clinic , growing their practise or marketing themselves.

Many are woefully financially naive. When they first start practise, they are so used to working for free that they do not think about paying themselves at all ! When they start their clinic, they treat the clinic's income as their personal income. However, this is actually the income of their business - they should only be paying themselves a salary as a CEO. The clinic should be profitable enough to pay them a salary and should be able to run without their presence ! Most doctors are so busy working in their practise , that they fail to work on their practise !

Doctors do not learn to leverage their strengths; and because they are so busy competing with each other , they do not learn to cooperate and grow the pie for their profession. They fritter away the goodwill they have earned from their patients on personal gratification. Sadly, the leaders of the profession are intensely political , and because they are so focussed on looking only after their personal selfish interests, they do little for the profession as a whole. By the time they are senior and are capable of looking at the big picture, they are thinking about retiring !

Most doctors are good at what they do, which is taking care of their patients . While this is good for their personal wellbeing, it's not good for the profession, which lacks leaders who can provide wise counsel for their colleagues and peers.