文档介绍：and vision problems and sometimes personal problems. i was “her eye doctor” and we had long ago passed the cross cultural communication barrier.
as we talked, mrs. brown began to cry as she shared the fact that her health insurance and subsequent medicare changes would no longer pay for her visits nor the diagnostic and therapeutic services that i prescribed. although commonplace today, these sudden and often traumatic changes in medical service providers disregard the importance of trust, understanding and respect developed over time between patient and doctor. this scenario happens only too often where this important relationship between doctor and patient is strained and often severed due to impersonal and external factors.
the story of mrs. brown has been repeated tens of thousands of times in optometry, medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, podiatry, pharmacy, etc. for many, the doctor-patient relationship has been replaced with impersonal third party shepherding of patients from provider to provider. many of you have experienced this disruption in your healthcare.
mrs. brown did still stay in touch with me, about once every year, with a phone call to me or my staff bringing us up-to-date on her health and vision problems. she had many doctors over those years. the reason i tell you this story is to demonstrate and emphasize to you that trust, understanding and respect are powerful magnets for doctors and their patients. a breach of these will likely repel. good doctor-patient relationships are built on honesty and integrity and withstand external pressures, influences and even misunderstandings. a trusting doctor-patient relationship is not easily disturbed, and we see in the example of my patient, mrs. brown, it can prevail.
i was sure when mrs. brown did have a choice to return to me as her eye doctor, she would bring her family and friends.
well, it happened! about 2 years ago, during our annual phone call, she seemed excited and most cheerful—“doctor, i