When infertile women make an effort to follow my advice and conduct IVF research online, most of them get thoroughly confused. Many just get lost in the Web because there is an ocean or two of information out there; and they just aren’t too sure about what they should be reading. What worsens this issue is the fact that they find diametrically opposite information on different sites and they don’t know which one they should trust.
They can’t make sense of what they read, and many just give up in frustration, preferring to take the path of least resistance. They believe that ignorance is bliss and that it’s best to leave everything to the doctor; the different thoughts that cross their minds are:
• After all, he’s the expert and isn’t this his job?
• Am I not paying him big bucks for his expertise?
• Why not trust him and let him make all the decisions?
• Why waste time trying to countercheck on them?
A Waste of Precious Time?
They feel that when they look for information online, it just eats into their time and in a way, corrodes their trust in the doctor. When they attempt to ask questions and get clarifications for their doubts, the doctor just tends to get annoyed, so what’s the point of going through this entire exercise in the first place?
It’s a fact that online information can be very confusing. If that’s what is happening to you, it simply means that the information you have chanced upon is of low quality and that is what makes it confusing. The only solution to the problem, is to not give up; just keep looking for good quality information till you find it. It’s simple – good quality information wont confuse, it will clarify!
Confused Doctors Translate to Confused Patients
A large portion of the information you find online isn’t trustworthy because it is tainted by a hidden agenda; everyone is trying to sell you something. Some of the information is poorly-written and dense, because the doctor who has written it, is confused himself and it’s no surprise that he ends up confusing the patient too. These same doctors will also end up confusing their patients during a consultation; and the patient is typically left with more doubts than answers at the end of her visit compared to when she walked into his consultation room.
Quality Information Shines
It’s the quality of the information and how it’s presented which will decide whether the patient who reads it will get confused or enlightened ! Just like a good school teacher can help to make even a complex subject like calculus fun and exciting; and a bad teacher can make any subject dry, dull and boring, doctors need to start learning how to teach. We need to adopt modern teaching tools , such as videos, e-learning and graphic comic books, to get information across to our patients .
Teaching Well is as Important as Learning Well
I tell my patients that if you find you are confused after visiting a website or after talking to your doctor, the fault lies with your doctor, not with them! If the doctor cannot do a good job, that’s because he doesn’t know how to teach! The good news is that now, there is a significant amount of high quality, well-produced accurate information available online, that patients can access.
Even better, if you are willing to be patient and take your time looking for a clearly written website, you will get better at understanding what’s happening to you during your infertility journey. Believe me, as you master the skills, it does get easier over time; and it can prove to be a very worthwhile investment of your time and energy !
Need more information? Please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/free-second-opinion so that I can guide you !
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