reference to doctors!?

Question

if you know too much...there might be a problem of trust..." I am the type of person that likes to know as much as possible before (especially if my life is in another person's hands). What types of examples would benefit the patient if they knew less?

Answer 1

Well for one a heart attack. Under stress your body sends a lot of sympathetic stimulus to the heart, which only makes things worse. Once people hear "heart attack" they tend to get nervous.
We combat this by reassuring the patient as much as possible, and giving them morphine for pain and beta blockers to counteract the sympathetics and reduce the strain on the heart prior to reperfusion therapies.

Either way, you have an obligation to inform the patient.

Answer 2

I'm not trying to be a smart a** here but it might sound that way. Here's my thing. I'm just like you are if I'm putting my life into someone elses hands I want to know all about whatever it is they say I "have". I mean if someone tells me I have appendicitis and want to operate but only went into the doctor with a simple headache yeah i'd have an issue cause I know what appendicitis is. lol. I like knowing what certain things are not only so that I can tell what doctors are saying when they think i dont know what they are talking about when talking to the nurse but also so that I can make sure my recovery goes well... Your question was what types of examples would benefit the patient if they knew less. Big example here is the good old self medication things. People go in with a sinus infection thats causing a headache and they dont think the antibiotics are enough and decide to start popping left over vicodin from a tooth removal. Or another one is people who like to try home remedies such as herbs and things like that. They think they know what they are doing when they start taking vitamins and herbs for an ailment but do they see that you can poison yourself with some of those herbs? some people get way to ahead of themselves when they think they can save a buck or two on a script by self treating. Oh and you have to love when a doctors says "I think its this" but then the person goes and researches it and finds out its life threatening only to go back to a recheck and find out it was a simple infection treated with antibiotics. But with this one its more of some doctors need to watch what they say more about what they "think" it is before they actually have a clear cut diagnosis. But in the same respect if the person knows a thing or two they can stand up for their own health and dispute what the doctor says and get a second opinion.

In some respects its good for some people to know stuff. But then again you have those people that research diseases and learn to mimic symptoms just to get attention or drugs. And we all know this happens. So its good to know some stuff but people shouldnt go over board and start thinking they have the first case of polio in the US in 20 years just because they have a tingle in their leg.

Answer 3

There aren't but two that I can think of, and they're somewhat related. First is the case of information overload. One can only process so much information, especially if under duress as with an urgent medical condition. The physician should take into account the patient's ability to process, or he's just dazzling with BS. The other is the case of erroneous information. When everybody knows this remedy cures your cold, and you don't sneeze, cough, sniffle, ache or have difficulty sleeping, and the medication is taken but the symptoms persist, there's bound to be some disappointment and perhaps even undue worry.

Answer 4

Many diagnoses in medicine are fairly straightforward, and such a person can be given a straightforward answer. Likewise there are situations that are quite complex, with many variables. In such cases, patients or parents that insisted on precise figures often go home unfulfilled.

Conversely, do I subscribe to "ignorance is bless"? No, I wanted patients to approve and enter a treatment plan with as much understanding as possible. Occasionally that included the lesser of two evils.