How to keep your doctor happy

There are lots of books and articles on practice management for doctors, which teach them how to keep their patients happy. This is obviously important for doctors because if they have happy patients their practice is likely to do well. However, let's not forget that doctors have lots of patients and an occasional unhappy patient is not likely to affect him too much. However, most patients have just one doctor and therefore learning how to keep your doctor happy should be far more important for patients as compared to doctors learning how to keep patients happy.

It's actually not very difficult to keep your doctor happy because most doctors are fairly simple creatures who take pleasure and pride in their professional work and making sure that their patients get well. The tragedy is that patients are so used to complaining when they go to their doctor that they often forget to say simple things like – Thank you for helping me to get better.

The irony is that this is such a simple thing to do – and the patient who does remember to be complimentary to the doctor and say thank you is actually likely to have a much happier doctor as compared to patients who treat their doctors purely as technicians. Investing some time and energy in thinking about your doctor and remembering to thank him when you do get better can make a world of difference in the quality of care which you get from the doctor.

It’s equally important to say thank you to the staff as well. After all , his staff are the gatekeepers - the ones who are responsible for controlling access to the doctor . If his staff knows you by name & remembers you as a person who smiles and is thoughtful about their needs and requirements, you’re likely to have a much happier and kinder doctor. Patients who are smart & learn to keep their doctors happy are much likelier to be happy patients !