How to Talk to Your Doctor: The Guide for Patients and Their Physicians Who Want to Reconcile and Use the Best of Conventional and Alternative Medicine - Hardcover

Hoffman M.D., Ronald L.; Stevens, Sidney

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1591201128 ISBN 13: 9781591201120

Publisher: Basic Health Publications, Inc., 2006

Synopsis

Now more than ever patients are taking control of their own health care, leaving many conventional physicians unsure about their role as dispensers of medical knowledge. More waiting rooms are now filled with highly informed medical consumers seeking to partner with their doctors. They want to explore all promising treatiments, both mainstream and alternative, and connect emotionally. To physicians, these patients seem needy and demanding. They expect a lot of attention, but are all too quick to question authority and battle doctors for control of medical care. To patients, though, such physicans come off as distant and stodgy, even arrogant. Many walk away entirely from mainstream medicine seeking a better partnership or they neglect to mention the alternative tretments they're using for fear of disapproval. Less assertive patients simply clam up-put off by doctors' increasingly brusque bedside manner and shorthand use of "medicalese." The unfortunate result in each case is the same: miscommunication and missed opportunities. Patiens fail to receive the best care available to them, and doctor-patient relationships fall far short of the caring and mutually satisfying exchanges they should be. "How to Talk with Your Doctor" is a book for patients and doctors alike. It arms patients with the tools and knowledge they need to communicate better with physicians about using the best high-tech and alternative treatments while also helping doctors balance their skepticism of complementary and alternative approaches with open-mindedness.

About this title

Synopsis:

More waiting rooms are filled these days with highly informed medical consumers seeking to be more informed about their medical conditions. They want to explore all promising treatments, both mainstream and alternative. To doctors, these patients seem needy and demanding. They expect a lot of attention, but are all too quick to question authority and battle doctors for control of medicine. To patients, though, such doctors come off as stodgy, even arrogant. Many walk away entirely from mainstream medicine or neglect to mention the alternative treatments they're using for fear of disapproval. The unfortunate result in each case is the same: miscommunication and missed opportunities. Patients fail to receive the best care available to them and doctor- patient relationships fall short of the mutually satisfying exchanges they could be. "How to Talk to Your Doctor" is a book for patients and doctors alike. It arms patients with the tools and knowledge they need to communicate better with doctors about using the best high-tech and alternative treatments while, also, helping doctors balance their scepticism of complementary and alternative approaches with open-mindedness.

Part One looks at how doctors are trained, what practising medicine is really like and why so many physicians still resist non conventional approaches. It, also, looks at how growing interest in alternative treatments is changing the practice of medicine and how it might change even further - for the better. Part Two offers a blueprint for patient and doctor for maintaining optimal health and dealing with chronic illness. It, also, explores complementary and conventional options for preventing and treating specific conditions.

About the Author:

One of America's foremost complementary medicine practitioners, founder and medical director of the Hoffman Center in New York City, author of numerous books and articles and host of the popular nationally syndicated radio program, Health Talk.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Health Publications, Inc.
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1591201128
• ISBN 13: 9781591201120
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256