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At some point, probably most of us needed to go and see a doctor. Usually, docs are courteous and, most of them, are willing to go to any lengths in order to see that the patient gets the treatment he deserves. But what about those rude doctors, who would like nothing more than to skip treatment in order to see about his business? A new study points out that disrespectful surgeons are not only dangerous but that they pile up a whopping $3 billion dollars per year in extra health care bills.
The Study and The Facts
Remember House M.D., the critically-acclaimed series which revolved around the adventures and mishaps of a brilliant, yet rude doctor? Well, it appears that, according to a new study, we have more House-like doctors in the US then we can afford. Even more troubling is the fact that a surgeon’s rudeness results in poor medical treatment.
The study was performed by a team of medical researchers from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center led by Dr. William Cooper. For the purpose of their study, Cooper and his team had to analyze over 32,000 complaints coming from patients who either received medical treatment or underwent major surgery at seven academic hospitals.
After pouring through the data, Dr. Cooper and his team of medical researchers discovered that the displeased patients were treated or operated at Stanford, Penn, Emory, Wake Forest, UCLA, Vanderbilt, and at the University of North Carolina.
In order to determine the link between surgeons’ lack of respect and the outcome of the medical treatment or surgery, Cooper, and his team took a closer look at the patients’ file to see how many of them developed a severe complication.
Why are Rude Surgeons Dangerous?
The results were staggering; approximately 14 percent of all patients who filed grievances against rude surgeons experience post-surgery complications after just a couple of months. While attempting to explain the phenomenon, Cooper realized that the ways surgeons treat their patients usually influences the whole OR staff.
For example, if a surgeon wants to speed up the surgery, despite the countless safety protocols they must abide by, he or she is inclined to tell the nurses and the rest of the OR staff to hurry up. Furthermore, during the next operation, having remembered the surgeon’s behavior, the OR staff will be more careless when implementing safety protocols.
Likewise, if the surgeon has an argument with one of the OR staff members, that member will be more focused on the surgeon rather than the patient.
Image source: Pixabay
