Health care must be built on a strong patient-provider relationship
The following is an excerpt from an opinion piece written by our co-founder, Christine Bechtel, and published in USA Today:
I'd never cried in a doctor's office. But there I was, a few weeks back, sobbing in the exam room.
As a new resident of Fort Myers, Florida, I was trying to establish a relationship with a local primary care physician. From the start, the doctor's focus was her computer, not me. She stared at a screen, while I stared off into space.
She challenged me on why I had an inhaler prescribed by a previous doctor. I explained that
hay fever leaves me short of breath. But her screen said I needed an asthma diagnosis, which I don't have. Then she asked why my blood pressure was so high – a first for me.
Bewildered, I said I'd ended a lifelong friendship the night before. Sidetracked again: It turns out there is no software code for that. I needed a dose of kindness and some clinical insight. I got clicking and keystrokes instead.
The tears flowed soon after. All I wanted was a human connection, but the doctor-patient
relationship – the most important element in all of health care – was dead on arrival.
Learn more about 3rd Conversation and how X4 Health is working to infuse relationships, empathy, and human connection back into the health care system