A couple of interesting posts about doctors and their perspective

Hat tip to Kevin MD for pointing me to two interesting articles this morning. I may not agree with some of the political paths Kevin MD goes down, but he always does point to the latest interesting bits of medical news, both in the blogosphere and in the mainstream media.

The first is an article from the SF Chronicle that asks: What's Your Doctor's Style?.

Written by a doctor it talks about three styles: The extremely anal doctor who tests for everything and leaves no stone unturned. The minimizing doctor who has a much more wait-and-see perspective. And the worst-case scenario doctor, who immediately thinks of (and hopefully eliminates) the worst possible result for every symptom.

I feel a little bit like baby Bear, but I gotta ask...isn't there a Just-Right Doctor who isn't too scary but also isn't too laissez-faire?

Columnist Jan Gurley concludes with the purpose of knowing all this:

Knowing your style as a patient is the first step in finding a good match. Are you a worrier? If so, a doctor who believes in a little watchful waiting will help you stay healthy. Or, do you minimize serious symptoms? You might need a doctor with a more proactive style. In my practice I tend to be a worst-case-scenario doc. But as a patient, I tend to put off everything, so I need a doctor who is going to chase things down.

When I had my first daughter, I became a worrier and realized I needed a different kind of doctor for her than I needed for myself. I chose an everything-is-probably-nothing pediatrician. That saved me from spending three years awake at night watching my daughter breathe, worried that she had a rare case of Dumbledore's dimpledyspnea.

I can honestly say I never thought about any of this. And I go to the doctor so rarely, I'm not sure I'm going to start now. I can totally imagine this would be helpful if you've got kids or a condition that has you visiting physicians often, though.

The second article is from the guardian, entitled Medical Confessions.

It's actually not that scandalous, but it does ask a variety of (anonymous) doctors their opinions on some FAQs that patients have.

Sample questions include:

Are you annoyed when a patient wants a second opinion?

Do men or women make better patients?

Is it annoying when patients have researched their symptoms online?

And so on.

Doctors seem to have a pretty lax attitude toward diet, exercise, organic foods, even drinking water.

I find that not too surprising...not because it would put a lot of them out of business if we all took excellent care of ourselves, but because it's not like that makes up the bulk of what they prescribe...it's probably just no top of mind for a lot of them.

In the end this article just represents the opinion of the four or five doctors they asked the questions of, but it's interesting.