1Dr. Sarah here again to wish you a Merry Christmas and more.
I know that most businesses, especially health care groups, will wish you “Happy Holidays” during this time of year, at most, but I want to say, “Merry Christmas.”
Not that I fully believe in all that Christmas is about, but it just seems silly to me to pretend that the holiday we’re saying happy holidays about is anything but Christmas. I don’t know for sure, but at minimum, it’s rare that Hanukkah or any other religious holiday falls on the same exact day as Christmas, and most of the commercial decorations and music are about Christmas.
I say, call it like it is.
I’m going to make this short because it’s also the time of year when everyone is trying to get in to see the doctor whether because they have insurance money to spend or school’s out or they have vacation time.
They get frustrated when we’re not available.
Sometimes I’m not sure if patients realize that we’re people too. But then I remember I feel the same thing when I’m panicked about something. I want help immediately. Thankfully I don’t get panicked often. Although there was that time I shared in Hidden Practice.
I’ll leave you with a little medical study I found not surprising, but interesting. It’s perfect for this time of year when we attend more dressy parties. I promise. It’s not going to be about how you can avoid weight gain.
In December of 2002, The Medical Journal of Australia published a study titled, “Evidence-based physicians’ dressing: a crossover trial.”
Nope, it wasn’t a study about cross dressing. A crossover trial is a research study in which the same subject receives a sequence of different treatments.
In this study, 12 physicians dressed in “respectable” attire then “retro” styles and saw a total of 1,680 patients between them. A questionnaire was sent to the patients after they were discharged, to ask about their trust and confidence in these physicians.
The result was, in my opinion, not surprising. But I wonder what would happen if they repeated it today, more than 20 years later. Times sure have changed.
But at that time, when the physicians were dressed in more formal attire, patient confidence and trust was higher. Interestingly, nose rings were one of the things that lowered reported trust and confidence most. (I may have to leave this study some place Kari will see it.)
The study noted, “A minimum threshold of two items of formal attire (dress pants, dress shirt, tie, or white coat) were necessary to inspire a reasonable amount of confidence.”
It reminds me of a story I tell in Hidden Practice about me seeing a patient when I was dressed in shabby “street” clothes versus wearing my lab coat. I’m not going to give the story away, but I’ll just say it relates to this study.
And now I’ve got to run off to a holiday, er, Christmas party.
I will no longer mind if I end up having to make a detour to the hospital to see a patient after I’m all dressed up. I like inspiring confidence and trust however I can convey it.
If you’ve got some time over the holidays, post a comment on what you think of this study and whether the researchers would find the same results today.
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