Physicians have a responsibility to educate their patients

Oct 14, 2017 News

– DCMO tells medical graduates

One of the many jobs of a primary health care physician is to educate patients. This means that physicians must take the time to ensure that their patients have an understanding of the medication that is administered to them.

Dr. Karen Boyle, Deputy Chief Medical Officer

This is important since, according to Deputy Chief Medical Officer [DCMO], Dr. Karen Boyle, “achieving health requires seeing your patient as an equal partner. Without their cooperation, your success as a physician will be minimal. If you spend 15 to 30 minutes with your patient and you have not made a compelling case for them to take their medication or for them to exercise and to lose weight, it won’t happen when they leave your office. If they have not been converted, they will do exactly as they please and you would have failed”.
Dr. Boyle’s remarks were forthcoming on Thursday as she addressed a gathering of 41 medical graduates (33 trained in Cuba and eight in China) who were part of an orientation session held at the Grand Coastal Hotel at Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara.
The forum was one intended to groom the fledgling physicians into the public health care system, in which they are expected to help make a positive impact. In so doing, Dr. Boyle said that there is need for a number of barriers to be removed.
According to Dr. Boyle, physicians must work keenly towards improving their patients’ health literacy in order for the delivery of health care to be improved.
“A patient will come to you and when you ask them ‘what treatment are you taking?’, they may tell you a pink tablet, a blue tablet, a square or yellow tablet, a black and red tablet [but] very often they cannot tell you the name of the medication,” Dr. Boyle highlighted.
In fact, she noted that it is important that physicians ensure that they enlighten their patients about the side-effects of the medication they use. Crucial is this measure, Dr. Boyle said, because “another thing you hear very often is of a patient complaining that a doctor gave them the wrong medication, whereas in actual fact it wasn’t the wrong medication, but maybe they had an allergic reaction they didn’t anticipate, because they were never told it might happen”.

A section of the medical graduates.

As such, she emphasised that a doctor’s failure to educate could in fact be to the detriment of the integrity of that doctor.
“Your reputation could be on the line, because you failed to tell them that this or that might happen. So take the time to explain…it will be to their benefit, it will be to your benefit,” the Deputy CMO assured.
As health care evolves, she noted that earnest effort must be made to ensure that the patient/doctor relationship is not one-sided. She recalled that back in the day health care entailed the physician doing all of the talking and little interaction with patients and their family members.
“Communication has to be a two-way street…the truth is some patients are reluctant to speak, but you have to invite them to ask to seek clarification. As them if they have questions and be willing to explain and share with them if they do,” appealed Dr. Boyle.
Also addressing the graduates was Director of Regional Health Services, Dr. Kay Shako, and other senior health officials.
Dr. Shako in addressing the graduates observed that following intense study, the graduates could better appreciate their achievement.
“You have gone through the late nights and burning the midnight oil and preparing for your examination. You would agree with me, that it is a hard road to become a doctor,” Dr. Shako said. The RHS Director added that the introduction of the medical graduates into the healthcare system comes at a time when there is a need for more human resources. She reminded them to always be compassionate, empathetic whilst caring for their patients.
It is expected that the 41 doctors will embark on a supervised 18-month programme and upon successful completion they will be eligible to register as medical practitioners in Guyana.

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