 |
|
 |
 |
| |
|
|
| |
| The Power of Your Thoughts: A Physical Therapist Discusses How Misunderstandings in the Medical Setting Can Be Avoided |
 |
by Matthew Goodemote MPT, Dip MDT - September 17, 2010
|
Over the last several weeks, I have been noticing how important word choice is when I am guiding my patients and staff towards wellness. This past week, I found myself struggling to convey a message that was so clear in my head, yet the words never quite got my point across. It happened several times, and then finally late last week I realized what was going on... it made sense in my head, but I was the only one listening inside my head!
Take a minute right now and think about the last misunderstanding you had with a friend or loved one. A minor confusion led to an obstacle to your communication. In some cases, it may have escalated to an argument and ended with hurt feelings and a sense of frustration on both sides. Remember now how in your head, it all made perfect sense. Well, the same was true for the other person. It made perfect sense to them, what they were thinking. But for some reason neither of you could get the other to understand, to really get the meaning.
For me, this became especially noticeable when I went to Denmark to visit my wife's family. When I spoke to them, the slang I used and the way I phrased certain sentences confused my in-laws. It became necessary to imagine that I was a foreigner and had NO references for what I was talking about, so I needed to make sure that I was being very direct and clear.
Another common difficulty in good communication comes when political correctness gets in the way. There are so many cases where a patient will tell me they didn't want to mention something because they didn't think it was important or they were too embarrassed to mention it. Now imagine the difficulty that the medical community has when it comes to helping you get well again. In your mind, it is all so clear and easy to understand that you find it very frustrating when a medical practitioner is struggling to help you.
Let me give you a specific example, one I have mentioned before. You go to the doctor and say, "I am hurting all over," or "I hurt everywhere." In your mind, you are explaining that the severity of your pain has taken over your life, or that your pain seems to pop up in different places throughout your body. Or maybe you are just making use of good old- fashioned exaggeration to make sure you have the doctor's attention. In the doctor's mind, things play out a little differently. Clinically trained, he or she is searching for a diagnosis that fits your description. The doctor is thinking about all the possible conditions that cause full-body symptoms and trusting you to provide accurate information, when in reality you are only giving him a partial picture.
The truth is, your ear lobes don't hurt and the tip of your nose feels fine, so you DON'T actually hurt everywhere. And actually, you hurt in multiple areas throughout your body, which you do not say clearly because, in your mind, you feel that the doctor "should know what you mean." In reality, there is a misunderstanding and because of this, testing is begun. It is possible that testing is the best way to go to solve your problem, but on the other hand, if communication had been clear both ways, perhaps it might not have been needed. As I mentioned in my last article, sometimes too much information from unneeded testing can confuse the issues. Also, too little information from patient to physician can do the same.
A lot of us have heard the joke about the man who went to his doctor and said, "Doc, I hurt everywhere I touch and I think I'm dying." The doctor says, "Can you show me where specifically you hurt?" The man says, "It's like I said Doc, I hurt everywhere. If I touch here I have pain. If I touch there I have pain. No matter where I touch I have pain. What do you think it is?" The doctor says, "I think you hurt everywhere you touch because you broke your finger!” The confusion certainly is not the sole fault of the patient; the medical practitioner is also listening with ears that are distorted by his or her own interpretations of what the patient is saying.
So the patient who comes into the clinic complaining of severe pain and says, “I hurt all over” may have their complaints interpreted by the as a request for pain medicine when the patient's real motive is to find out what is causing the problem. Because the patient’s words focus in on the pain, the medical practitioner’s attention is directed to pain relief, rather than to locating the source of pain. This is a big source of patient frustration. They wonder why it is so hard to get the help they need and why they are still struggling with their condition, while the doctor thinks that help has been given. Amazingly, the main reason for the patient’s frustration may be that there was a simple misunderstanding. The solution, of course, is just as simple: make sure that you are on the same page as the other person, and recognize that just because it makes sense in your head doesn't mean it makes sense in the other person's head.
My final story to wrap this up comes from a friend of mine who recently experienced a misunderstanding. He was trying to help a woman be safe, but rather than explain why what she was doing was unsafe, he kept insisting to her that he was only trying to help her. The more he tried the more she resisted. The more she resisted, the more frustrated he got and the more confused he was why someone would reject his offer to help. I asked him a simple question, "Did you tell her why you were trying to help, I mean specifically what you were doing and why?" He stopped a minute and said, "But it was obvious!" And I said with a grin on my face, "Obviously not!"
Communication is always a two-way street. The sender acts in good faith and so does the receiver, but that doesn’t mean that the receiver gets all the layers of meaning intended by the sender. Each person’s comprehension of meaning is shaped by many variables. Once again, take a minute again to think back to that last misunderstanding you had and consider that the cause of the misunderstanding may have been that you were sure in your head that something made perfect sense, but so was the other person. You cannot get into the other person’s head, but changing what you are doing to communicate may make all the difference in the dynamic between you. If you would like to resolve these kinds of issues, bringing up the possibility of trying a new way, a different question, a different response, a more direct and clear communication may help.
 Matthew Goodemote is the founder and owner of Community Physical Therapy & Wellness in Gloversville, NY. He has degrees in Exercise Science, Health Science, Physical Therapy, and he is one of just over 250 in the world with a Diploma from the McKenzie International Spine Institute. Matthew is recognized as an expert in the fields of Physical Therapy, orthopedics, spinal disorders, sports medicine, and wellness. He is routinely called upon to offer tips and suggestions relating to health and wellness. His unique approach makes him a highly sought after expert at different ends of the media spectrum. He has received requests to participate in studies for scientific journals, and to write articles for trade magazines and popular press magazines such as Fitness to offer proven recommendations that stand the test of time. More of Matt’s blogs can be found at http://www.matthewgoodemote.com/blog/.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE
You must be logged in
to recommend articles
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
