14 · SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2018 TRIB TOTAL MEDIA
OW TO GET BETTER CARE FROM YOUR DOCTOR H BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP
BY STATEPOINT
Have you ever wanted to
ask your doctor a question
but didn’t because you felt
uncomfortable?
Experts say that an imper-sonal
relationship with your
doctor could be preventing
you from receiving the best
care possible.
“Your doctors should feel
like valued members of your
family — and you a part of
theirs. That’s how I operate in
my practice and what I aim
to foster in my patients,” said
Dr. Ken Redcross, who brings
nearly 20 years of experience
to his new book dealing with
this subject, “Bond: The 4
Cornerstones of a Lasting and
Caring Relationship With
Your Doctor.”
Whether you have a new
doctor or you’ve been at the
same practice for years, your
patient-doctor bond might
be on faulty ground. But it
doesn’t have to be, Redcross
said. He believes that by
establishing four essential
qualities in your patient-doc-tor
relationships, you’ll pave
the way to receiving better
care:
• Trust: Trust is essential
in any relationship, includ-ing
the one with your doctor.
There is no sharing without
trust, and sharing is crucial
when it comes to receiving
the best possible care.
• Communication: No
relationship can be sustained
without open and honest
communication on both
sides, but developing healthy
communication habits takes
practice, effort and willing-ness.
• Respect: Respect is treat-ing
others with common
courtesy, good social man-ners
and appreciating each
other’s humanity. This means
respecting each other’s experi-ence,
knowledge and time.
• Empathy: Empathy is
the ability to sense another
person’s emotions and to be
able to place yourself in his or
her shoes, which is a valuable
quality in a doctor.
However, many physicians
strive for a state of “concerned
detachment,” which is the
opposite of empathy.
At the same time, patients
can be more empathic, too,
taking the time to consider
everything their doctors
might be dealing with on the
day of their visit. Building a
great relationship with your
doctor leads to practical ben-efits,
Redcross said.
In dealings with his own
patients, he finds that great
communication paves the
way for better treatment.
“Recently, a patient of mine
was dealing with muscle pain,
and we had a long conversa-tion
about different options.
Initially, I recommended that
she take traditional pain re-liever
with naproxen sodium
every morning. However,
by talking through all the
options and what best fit
her situation, including her
overall medical history, prefer-ences
and more, we settled
on using Arnica montana, a
lower-risk plant-based pain
reliever instead,” he said.
“Feeling comfortable
enough with your doctor to
challenge a suggestion and
have a long and complete
conversation is key,” he said.
“Unfortunately, such
discussions between patients
and doctors are rare.”
To learn more about the
book, as well as about
building better relationships
with your doctors, visit
BondByDrRedcross.com.
At a time when doctor’s vis-its
seem more formulaic than
ever, experts say receiving in-dividualized
care is possible,
and it all starts with building
strong relationships with your
health care providers.
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