Why You Don't Want to Be Happy with Your Doctor

Those of us who work in Hospital will know about the all important Patient Satisfaction Survey (PSS) season. This is when the admin staff suddenly appear from their dungeons and start distributing milo drinks and so-ta-piah (soda crackers) to patients. Dr Og always see some of the doctors steal the milo drinks and biscuits. Wah lau, don't so siah suay can or not... patients only get this type of good service once a year, so don't go and steal la.

But hor, this journal from JAMA which has been circulating around facebook for a while liao shows that higher patient satisfaction was associated with less emergency department use but with greater inpatient use, higher overall health care and prescription drug expenditures, and increased mortality.

What this means is: the more you like your doctor, the clinic or the hospital, the worse your outcome will be!!

Dr Og thinks this may not be true everywhere but sometimes, making the patients satisfied means giving them what they want. And one thing that patient always want is to go off medications. If I tell all my patients meng jiak yok liao (no need medications), I'm sure all of them will be sibei happy lor.

And they probably won't be well enough to make it for the next PSS to register their dissatisfaction.

Actually, what Dr Og thinks really will work is if we survey Doctor's Satisfaction! Surely if your doctor is happy, he will be in a better state to treat you and your outcome will likely improve. JAMA should really look into it! Unfortunately, I can't suggest this to hospital management as I have vested interest.

But if they really do the Doctors Satisfaction Survey hor, then at least we don't have to steal Milo and so-ta-piah (which incidentally is my fave snack)!

ha..ha..