Some doctors have it and some don’t. Good bedside manner.
Some examples of bad bedside manner.
- Calling all parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’.
- Asking “Do you have anymore questions?” with one hand on the doorknob and with your body turning to leave.
- Using overly medical terminology.
- Acting cold and disinterested.
- Not treating my child like a person and not asking permission before touching her or removing clothing.
Luckily, on Thursday, we had an appointment with a doctor with good beside manner. The orthopedic surgeon is kind, calm and treats my daughter like a person. He has never been running more than 10 minutes late, and his office staff has always been courteous. When we need to see him for a non-emergency, there is usually only a 2 week wait. The receptionist asks me what time of day would suit me when I’m booking.
We went in for the appointment and the doctor smiled and addressed himself to both me, my husband and my child. He asked if he could take off Precious’ socks, and lift her shirt in the back while she bent over to touch her toes. He explained things clearly and answered our questions at the end of the appointment. He invited us to see the x-ray of our daughter’s back. The best thing he did was pause at the end of the appointment for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only 20 seconds. He looked at us and waited to see if there was anything else we needed to say. It was less than a minute, but it made the whole process seem so much more human and civil. It gave me a chance to think if there was anything else I needed to ask.
When it was clear we were done, the doctor told us how we could follow up, and when, and we were out the door.
As a result of the appointment on Thursday, we learned our daughter has a mild case of scoliosis. Due to her age, the doctor doesn’t expect much change in the curvature of her spine in the next 5 years. He will see her again then (if he’s not retired!) and he’ll do another x-ray. In the meantime, no exercise or brace will help so we will just wait and see.