Photo Credit: Otmar W.
In my inaugural column, I asked how we begin conceptualizing the “good” in a modern, diverse society in which multiple perspectives and values coexist. Thinking about what constitutes the good life is challenging for healthcare professionals and all of us as current or future patients. However, the challenge of asking big questions to understand our purpose is worth the struggle. Let me offer my approach to my patients to help them develop their unique interpretation of the good life.
The Role of Trust in Patient Care
Health and happiness can have various meanings and implications. As a physician, I need to understand my patient’s idea of health and happiness. This understanding is gained through a trusting relationship that allows patients to feel comfortable sharing their unique joys, hopes, fears, and anxieties.
An empathic approach allows me to best see the health and happiness of a patient at a specific moment in time. I can deliver care to support the patient’s good (more on the good of the patient in an upcoming column) by aiming to understand wellness and illness through the patient’s lens. Entering this relationship with my patients yields the privilege, responsibility, and reward of being a physician.
I tell my patients that trust should not be simply given but is earned over time. It begins with the question, “How may I help you?” In proclaiming this question, I am implying that I am competent to help this person through my medical education and experience and will use this in an intellectually honest way to serve my patient’s best interests. Trust is developed in response to the relationship and the practical prescriptions offered to help the patient achieve health and happiness as defined by that individual.
Beyond Prescriptions: A Holistic Approach to Health
While prescriptions are often equated with medication, many of my prescriptions involve counseling, education, and monitoring of lifestyle habits.
Preventive screening, laboratory, imaging, and medication are all essential components of the evaluation and management of health. However, ignoring the foundational pillars of one’s well-being can impede the benefit of the modalities mentioned above. I often give my patients “homework assignments” that I believe are foundational to achieving one’s goals as they relate to health and happiness. Homework assignments become a desired instrument to empower one to participate in one’s care. These assignments usually begin with a focus on the following four areas: good sleep, good nutrition, good exercise or physical activity, and good work-life balance.
Empowering Patients Through Personalized Care
“Good” is defined and redefined over time as I get to know the patient and their goals, and I start with what is most important to the patient. I use concepts validated by medical science and the personal experience of helping patients with the foundational aspects of well-being. In time, these homework assignments turn into personal habits, and these habits turn into the basis of health and happiness as defined by the patient, all suspended by a trusting relationship of care and empowerment.
