Medicine and Psychology - Research Paper Example

?Running head: Medicine and Psychology Medicine and Psychology Introduction The kind of relationship that exists between a doctor and a patient is fundamental in the healthcare profession and is vital for the provision of high-quality medical care both in the identification as well as the treatment of infirmity. The patient-physician affiliation offers a strong foundation of current medical principles and thus it is the duty of the physicians to uphold a professional relationship with their patients, maintain patients’ solemnity and value their solitude. Problems facing patients In the 21st century America, patients are facing several problems in their efforts to develop a good relationship with their physicians. In the first place, patients tend to view the physicians as more superior as compared to themselves simply because physicians have the expertise and qualifications, and thus they should be central to all medical care activities as well as decisions. In such a case, the ability of the patient to develop a worthwhile relationship with his or her doctor is hindered by the patient's distress regarding his or her inferiority which in most cases, the patient lacks the courage to discloses his feelings to the doctor. As a result, the narrow psychological capacity for the patient to get over the distress on his/her own sufficiently, may sometimes lead to a state of nervousness and enslavement on the medical practitioner. For that reason, it is advisable for the physician to be in any case attentive of these inequalities so as to establish a relationship and make use of dialogue when dealing with the patient. Moreover, it may be helpful for the doctor to embrace a kind of collective care along with patient empowerment as a way of allocating the patient a bigger portion of duty for caring for him or herself (Dibbelt, Schaidhammer, Fleischer, & Greitemann, 2009). Additionally, privacy is a key aspect that should be exercisable by the physician in America when handling a patient’s health issues. However, sometime other individuals are present either carers of the patient or other medical practitioners. For instance, in case of a minor who is undergoing a medical check up, normally one or both parents are likely to be present and if that is the case, it may affect the patient-physician communication freedom which forms the basis for building up a good relationship between both the patient and the doctor. Though the presence of the parents may present the patient with psychological support, in a number of cases, it compromises the required privacy between the doctor and the patient and in addition hampers the patient from revealing personal issues to the doctor. Moreover, when consulting a health officer in relation to sexual matters, the presence of both spouses is habitually considered crucial, and is normally a useful thing; however it may as well prevent the revelation of particular information which may be pertinent to the diagnosis as well as the treatment of the health condition at hand and further poses a problem to a patient in developing a relationship with his or her doctor. Besides, in accordance to a certain research, such as situation may augment a patient’s stress level (Kay, Mitchell, & Clavarino, 2010). Moreover, nowadays, patients in the 21st century America are encountering the problem of transitional care when developing a relationship with their physicians. Transitional care involves the switching of physicians either when a patient moves from one hospital to another or whereby on his or her next medical appointment is allocated a different doctor to attend to him or her. Change of patients among medical practitioners may lessen the healthcare quality since it takes a long time to re-establish a good doctor-patient rapport. Switching of physicians also places a big challenge to the patient due the possibility of receiving diverse medical advice which may confuse the patient making him or her unable to decide which physician to trust (Dibbelt, Schaidhammer, Fleischer, & Greitemann, 2009). Health psychology Health psychology refers to a field that concentrates on comprehending how natural, psychological, ecological, and social aspects influence an individual’s physical health as well as the avoidance of diseases. It also relates to how individuals respond to, handles and pull through illnesses. Health psychology fills the gap connecting healthcare and psychology by focussing on the psychological issues that may have contributed to a certain disease. The identification of the issues not only determines how to handle the patient but also helps the physician to decide on the kind of medication that is the most appropriate for the patient concerned which in turn ensures that the patient receives high quality health care for a timely and effective management of his or her health condition. Furthermore, different illnesses are handled differently by diverse patients and thus health psychology fills the gap between medicine and psychology by providing doctors with the knowledge on which to draw on when advising the patient on the best way to handle certain health issues as well as on how to prevent the occurrence of similar illnesses in the future. This helps in ensuring that the patient stays healthy (Hancock, Lees, & Brown, 2011). Moreover, health psychology helps doctors to have a great knowledge of how to inform the patient or carers on the health condition that the patient may be suffering from. Certain health conditions such as HIV/AIDS and cancer once diagnosed should not be told to the patient so casually. In some health establishments, physicians who have little or no knowledge of health psychology do not practice this ethic and end up informing the patient about the infection in a very unprofessional manner that has seen many patients suffer from hypertension or stroke. Besides, there are several cases where medical practitioners have been sued by patients for lack of due care. For instance, where a patient suffers from additional health condition after learning about his or her current disease from the doctor, he or she will argue in court that, it was entirely because of the careless approach that was used to tell him about his or her health condition that he suffered from the resultant disease (Greenhalgh, Craik, & Huisman, 2006). Conclusion The problems that patients in the 21st century America face when establishing rapport with their doctor are; physicians’ superiority, presence of additional parties and instances of transitional health care. Health psychology fills the gap between medicine and psychology so as to ensure that patients are the end beneficiaries by focussing on the psychological aspects that contributed to the illness, teaching doctors on the best advice to give to patients as well as presenting physicians with knowledge on how to tell patients and carers about the patients’ health conditions. References Dibbelt, S., Schaidhammer, M., Fleischer, C., & Greitemann, B. (2009). Patient-doctor interaction in rehabilitation: the relationship between perceived interaction quality and long-term treatment results. Patient Education & Counseling , 76 (3), 328-35. Greenhalgh, T., Craik, E. M., & Huisman, F. (2006). Medicine (General & Public aspects). SciTech Book News , 30 (4), 60-70. Hancock, J., Lees, S., & Brown, K. E. (2011). Health Psychology's role in sexual health care. Europe's Journal of Psychology , 7 (3), 550-564. Kay, M., Mitchell, G., & Clavarino, A. (2010). What doctors want? A consultation method when the patient is a doctor. American Journal of Primary Health , 16 (1), 52-59. Read More