The most important question IVF doctors forget to think about

Medical students learn a lot about the management of diseases by reading textbooks and by listening to their medical professor's lectures.  They learn how to use flow charts and algorithms for  managing a particular lesion, and this has a sound scientific basis which allows them to practise evidence-based medicine in a systematic fashion.

For example, if they have to treat a patient who has a chocolate cyst ( endometrioma), they will plan their management based on medical variables such as the size of the cyst; the age of the woman; and whether she has any symptoms or not.

However, there's one key ingredient which is missing in the medical flow charts published in the textbook, which I think is the most important question doctors should be asking. Sadly, they fail to do so because they're not taught to do this, This should be - What does the patient want?

Doctors need to remember that we're not just treating diseases, lesions or X-ray images - we are treating human beings !  We need to factor in the patient's personal preferences and personal goals. We need to understand the context - and we need to respect the person who has the disease, so that we can treat it intelligently.

This means that a chocolate cyst in a 25-year-old woman who wants to have a baby is going to be treated very differently from that same chocolate cyst in a 25-year-old woman who only wants pain relief.

Unless doctors incorporate this routinely into our thinking patterns, we're not going to become good clinicians. We will fail at providing care  which our patients are happy with, because we have ignored and disregarded their personal choices . The patient's inputs should come first, and it is based on these that we should decide which particular flow chart or algorithm to follow .  We need to put our patients at the center of their management, and we need to change our textbooks and our practice to reflect this.


Do you feel your IVF doctor is not listening to you and does not respect your preferences ? Please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/free-second-opinionwww.drmalpani.com/free-second-opinion so that I can guide
you !

What does the patient want? Medical students learn a lot about the management of diseases by reading textbooks and by listening to their medical professor's lectures. They learn how to use flow charts and algorithms for managing a particular lesion, and this has a sound scientific basis which allows them to practise evidence-based medicine in a systematic fashion. For example, if they have to treat a patient who has a chocolate cyst ( endometrioma), they will plan their management based on medical variables such as the size of the cyst; the age of the woman; and whether she has any symptoms or not. However, there's one key ingredient which is missing in the medical flow charts published in the textbook, which I think is the most important question doctors should be asking. Sadly, they fail to do so because they're not taught to do this, The single most important variable should be - What does the patient want? Doctors need to remember that we're not just treating diseases, lesions or X-ray images - we are treating human beings ! We need to factor in the patient's personal preferences and personal goals. We need to understand the context - and we need to respect the person who has the disease, so that we can treat it intelligently. This means that a chocolate cyst in a 25-year-old woman who wants to have a baby is going to be treated very differently from that same chocolate cyst in a 25-year-old woman who only wants pain relief. Unless doctors incorporate this routinely into our thinking patterns, we're not going to become good clinicians. We will fail at providing care which our patients are happy with, because we have ignored and disregarded their personal choices . The patient's inputs should come first, and it is based on these that we should decide which particular flow chart or algorithm to follow . We need to put our patients at the center of their management, and we need to change our textbooks and our practice to reflect this.

Read more at: https://www.docplexus.in/#/app/posts/77dfb047-1194-4222-a44f-0e0fa42dc612
Copyright 2016 © Docplexus

What does the patient want? Medical students learn a lot about the management of diseases by reading textbooks and by listening to their medical professor's lectures. They learn how to use flow charts and algorithms for managing a particular lesion, and this has a sound scientific basis which allows them to practise evidence-based medicine in a systematic fashion. For example, if they have to treat a patient who has a chocolate cyst ( endometrioma), they will plan their management based on medical variables such as the size of the cyst; the age of the woman; and whether she has any symptoms or not. However, there's one key ingredient which is missing in the medical flow charts published in the textbook, which I think is the most important question doctors should be asking. Sadly, they fail to do so because they're not taught to do this, The single most important variable should be - What does the patient want? Doctors need to remember that we're not just treating diseases, lesions or X-ray images - we are treating human beings ! We need to factor in the patient's personal preferences and personal goals. We need to understand the context - and we need to respect the person who has the disease, so that we can treat it intelligently. This means that a chocolate cyst in a 25-year-old woman who wants to have a baby is going to be treated very differently from that same chocolate cyst in a 25-year-old woman who only wants pain relief. Unless doctors incorporate this routinely into our thinking patterns, we're not going to become good clinicians. We will fail at providing care which our patients are happy with, because we have ignored and disregarded their personal choices . The patient's inputs should come first, and it is based on these that we should decide which particular flow chart or algorithm to follow . We need to put our patients at the center of their management, and we need to change our textbooks and our practice to reflect this.

Read more at: https://www.docplexus.in/#/app/posts/77dfb047-1194-4222-a44f-0e0fa42dc612
Copyright 2016 © Docplexus

What does the patient want? Medical students learn a lot about the management of diseases by reading textbooks and by listening to their medical professor's lectures. They learn how to use flow charts and algorithms for managing a particular lesion, and this has a sound scientific basis which allows them to practise evidence-based medicine in a systematic fashion. For example, if they have to treat a patient who has a chocolate cyst ( endometrioma), they will plan their management based on medical variables such as the size of the cyst; the age of the woman; and whether she has any symptoms or not. However, there's one key ingredient which is missing in the medical flow charts published in the textbook, which I think is the most important question doctors should be asking. Sadly, they fail to do so because they're not taught to do this, The single most important variable should be - What does the patient want? Doctors need to remember that we're not just treating diseases, lesions or X-ray images - we are treating human beings ! We need to factor in the patient's personal preferences and personal goals. We need to understand the context - and we need to respect the person who has the disease, so that we can treat it intelligently. This means that a chocolate cyst in a 25-year-old woman who wants to have a baby is going to be treated very differently from that same chocolate cyst in a 25-year-old woman who only wants pain relief. Unless doctors incorporate this routinely into our thinking patterns, we're not going to become good clinicians. We will fail at providing care which our patients are happy with, because we have ignored and disregarded their personal choices . The patient's inputs should come first, and it is based on these that we should decide which particular flow chart or algorithm to follow . We need to put our patients at the center of their management, and we need to change our textbooks and our practice to reflect this.

Read more at: https://www.docplexus.in/#/app/posts/77dfb047-1194-4222-a44f-0e0fa42dc612
Copyright 2016 © Docplexus