Provider-Patient Relationship - Essay Example

For a majority of physicians, the establishment of proper bond with a patient is essential. Some medical fields, such as family medicine and psychiatry, stress on the physician-patient relationship more than other departments, such as radiology or pathology (Chin Hin, 2002). This is because departments such as family medicine deal more with one on one matter with the patients as compared to the radiology or pathology department. The scenario provided is an excellent example of a patient relying on his or her physician for privacy.

After a test was conducted, the woman was found to be intoxicated. The question was whether her physician would report the matter to the police since the physician considered the matter as drug trafficking. However, the law obliges physicians to maintain crucial matters of their patients (Pauls, McRae, Campbell & Dungey, 2004). They should not overpass the privacy of their patients. In addition, they can be sued if they disclose the private matters of their patients. Hence, it was advisable for the physician to maintain the information that he stumbled upon regarding the woman.

Such cases occur numerous times and physicians are the people who are placed on a tight spot regarding what to do. Several patients go to their doctors with matters that can be linked to criminal activities, and they expect the doctors to respect their privacy. Even though, doctors are permitted to report matters that they feel can endanger an immediate party, if the matter does not affect anybody else then they obliged to keep quiet. The only thing that doctors can do is advise their patients.

This is with regards to the law. Doctors should center on continuity. This refers to their relationships with their private patients and between their patients and other clinicians. Trust and reliance are most practical when a relationship has a history of advocacy, reliability, good will and beneficence. Continuity promotes trust. It also gives a chance for providers and patients to know each other as people. Continuity also offers a basis for making decisions with other individuals (Kussin, 2012).

It permits doctors to be better sponsors for their patients, and it gives patients some authority by virtue of the private relationship they have with their doctor. Patients treasure continuity since it has positive outcomes in medical care. Doctors should work to defend the preferences and interests of their patients. They should also practice prudence. Doctors should be cautious in the use of resources, and should not waste resources by offering services of no advantage to patients (Goold & Lipkin, 1999).

Doctors often complain that patients come in requesting for blood tests and x-rays among other services, but they are unconvinced of any benefit. Many patients, on the other hand, have noted that doctors overuse tests. Doctors ought to contribute to quality enhancement efforts. For efforts to be centered on developing the quality of health care and not only on limiting resource use, the role of doctors is essential. Doctors know when access is too firmly restrained, and their patients' care is suffering (Pauls, McRae, Campbell & Dungey, 2004).

They also know when a limitation on the use of an equipment or drug constitutes improper infringements on the quality of health care, or in what situations a procedure is probably needless. Doctors can, and must, serve as “quality police” by remarking, noticing, as well as working for change, when they see a trait that is harmful to patient care.