Dr. Francisco Aleman leaves an exam room after seeing a patient at Northwest Health Services. He recommends patients have question written down before meeting with their doctor to maximizes the visit. A recent survey of doctors around the country found that a great number say they simply don’t have enough time to spend with their patients. In the survey, 83 percent of doctors admit they lack quality time with their patients. Dr. Lawrence Gassner with MDVIP, a network of physicians that commissioned the study, said the finding is alarming and can lead to bigger problems. “Certainly one of the main negative things that comes out of it is a decreased quality of care for the patient. The statistics from this study are staggering,” Dr. Gassner said. In some cases, the study found a lack of time translated to an increase in the amount of drugs prescribed, which can be an additional complication in itself. “54 percent of physicians questioned admitted to prescribing something that perhaps they might not have or referring to a sub-specialist only because they had inadequate time themselves to either explain a condition to a patient or to educate a patient,” Dr. Gassier said. Locally, clinics say an abundance of patients but not of time can be a challenge. But it’s not an insurmountable one, according to Dr. Francisco Aleman with Northwest Health Services in St. Joseph. “You have to review the patient’s chart from before, their labs, their imaging before you even step into the patient’s room. Once you’re in the patient’s room, you basically have seven maybe 10 minutes tops with a patient,” Aleman said. Aleman said doctors around the country always are reevaluating how they do their job and how to do it better, and while physicians want to better their work, patients can help themselves by making sure they are prepared for the visit before setting foot in the doctor’s office. “If you write five questions down and you let us know up front, then we can address those in the time we are allotted,” Aleman explained. “But sometimes those questions aren’t raised until the end of the visit. Then it’s hard for us to be able to tackle those.” Knowing your family medical history is also a big plus, according to Aleman, who said if the patient goes in prepared with the information a doctor will need, then the doctor can make the most of the time he or she has and complicated cases can be handled with additional visits. Source
