Do you trust your healthcare provider?

Wow. This is a loaded question for many people. Going to a healthcare provider for help puts you in a very vulnerable position. At the mercy of an educated and socially esteemed doctor, you lay out your vulnerabilities and weaknesses before them in hopes that they will hear and respect your concerns. Do you give them your trust upfront or is it something to be earned? Or is it your instinct to distrust them?

I never had a primary care physician growing up because my dad was my physician, so I was spared most of the inconveniences and all of the harsh realities of our broken medical system until I was away at college and needed help. This was when my health issues began, and I elected to see a well-reviewed medical doctor covered by my insurance. And so began my journey down the “sick-care” system rabbit hole. This doctor heard what she had been trained to hear, the echoes of indoctrination. She prescribed me some pills and referred me out.

I fell down that rabbit hole and scrambled for years in the dark. I felt like Alice in Wonderland, attempting to chase a disillusioned guide and navigate fantasy from reality.

The next doctor, a specialist, who I saw for further testing, came into the office and quite literally told me, “So… it’s all in your head.” I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. Didn’t matter. His opening comment made my blood boil.

It’s upsetting the number of times I was burned by these types of physicians. I was an intelligent, college educated woman at the time and the daughter of a conventionally trained medical doctor, yet I still didn’t escape unscathed. Now, as a doctor of physical therapy with years of practice behind me, I look back at those experiences and shake my head thinking about how I was treated. And I continue to hear the unbelievable stories that my patients tell me of their experiences at doctors’ offices, and they make me livid.

The injustices and disservices that members of the general public receive today by our healthcare system are appalling. Western medical and allopathic doctors are trained to believe that x+y=z. But they don’t even know what the variables x, y, and z are. How can they calculate an equation if they don’t understand the variables themselves? Because, why would your doctor ask questions when they think they already have the answers. And more importantly, how can they ask questions about things they don’t know that they don’t know? This train of thought is a tangent appropriate for another blog discussion, but I digress.

The standard of care that our American healthcare system provides is disappointing to say the least. It puts a vulnerable individual at the mercy of an elevated and supposedly intelligent authority. The system inherently distrusts and expects the worst out of the patient, while simultaneously expecting the patient to completely trust it. How can a patient trust the provider when the patient has been burned so many times, repeatedly seeing that familiar glint of an algorithmic process happening behind the eyes of their provider.

Although very common, patients shouldn’t distrust their providers. Providers should have to earn the trust of their patients. This gives back power to the patient (by questioning and seeking truth) and invokes humility in the provider (by seeking new knowledge and challenging their perspectives). With these characteristics, a harmonious and sustainable relationship can be established between the two people, providing opportunity for growth both in the relationship and in each individual.

My intent for the post is not to hate on doctors. Rather, I’m calling out all healthcare providers to step up. Step up to the challenge of attempting to earn the trust of your patients. Give patients the benefit of the doubt, look for the best in them, and listen to their stories. I know this can be difficult sometimes when we as providers get caught up in the grind and monotony. It’s hard work. It’s draining work. But it can also be the most elevating and redeeming work too. I emplore providers to listen to your patients and hold hope for their best. They need you to hold that for them.

And to patients, I advise you to just be honest. Be honest with your provider and be honest with yourself. Providers want to help people who want to help themselves. They want to help patients who will match their efforts. What have you done lately to help yourself?

Although I have seen plenty of poor healthcare service, I have also had the pleasure of interacting with the kindest and most caring healthcare providers as well. These people have the most loving hearts, sharpest minds, greatest thirst for knowledge, and most encouraging spirits. It’s so exciting to meet these people, from whom I find inspiration as a provider and hope as a patient.

So if you haven’t found this type of provider yet, don’t give up! I’m telling you that they are out there. There do exist diamonds in the rough. Trust me ;) Soon I hope.