Hello to all the followers of and contributors to Physician Forum. So happy to be back online!
Technical difficulties downed the site around 6 months ago. Thankfully my old friend Peter reactivated the site a few days ago. We are very thankful to have Peter.
Obviously much has happened during this time. In the world of politics, disappointments and ongoing confusion continue to reign, making it more imperative than ever to limit Trump to one term. For the love of the Country, the Constitution, Law, and basic dignity we must all go out and vote. The president is obviously guilty of conspiring and then covering up. Richard Nixon ultimately left office for covering up. And to this very day, I do believe that it is still unclear if he ordered the Watergate break in or just conspired with it.
Much more political to come.
On our return it seemed appropriate to us to focus our attention on medical issues, and particularly to a thought I had over the past several months. After all the years of practice I had become quite discouraged by my patients’ listening skills, and their ability to answer questions posed. And, since history taking is at the heart of making correct diagnoses I realized how much liability patients have interacting with medical providers who are limited for time and stressed by the system to which they are a part.
So in order to make the provider-patient exchange more effective, productive, and efficient, I propose patients accept their responsibility in this most important relationship. I feel so strongly about it that I have used my own name as its title.
Liben’s Law:
Have confidence and allow the provider to ask questions as they deem necessary. Most importantly when a provider asks any question, answer the question succinctly and to the point. Then stop, and wait for a response or the next question. Providers know the questions to ask and what best order to ask them. Allowing this to occur generally results in a better understanding of the patient’s condition and more likely the correct diagnosis. Providers need to be able to concentrate during this process. Their skill set relies on being focused on the problem and operates best without interruptions. You could say during this time “Silence is Golden”.