"I'm not well.... JUST DO SOMETHING"

You have come to this blog expecting good content haven't you?  You want me, as an osteopath/blogger to provide value that will satisfy your desire to learn.

By providing good content I hope that you return to my blog and build up my readership.  If the post does not interest you, you'll read a few lines and go elsewhere. If it is good, you might share it.  What a wonderful feeling of success that would be!!

Similar feelings occur in the patient-practitioner encounter.

If I am successful, this patient will return and possibly recommend a friend. That will do wonders for my confidence. However, what if I fail? What will that do to my reputation?  To my business? These are feelings that may be familiar to you.

A patient-practitioner relationship has a giving-receiving dynamic.  The osteopath gives treatment and the patient receives relief. The osteopath is concerned not to disappoint the patient, to meet their expectations. As a result the osteopath manages the consultation in the way he perceives is the wish of the patient. This is understandable, we behave this way socially too, but problems  occur when the patient, consciously or unconsciously, mobilizes the osteopath to behave outside of the patient's best interests. 

An example of this was a patient who, after expressing dissatisfaction with a previous practitioner said she only wanted me to treat her shoulder and not waste time on the rest of the body. Do I stick my clinical judgment and risk losing the patient or do I do as the patient asks and treat ineffectively?

One of the strongest feelings that can be aroused during the consultation is the need to act, by that I mean, to be active, to do something for the patient, even when doing nothing might be the best. The fear is that by not acting, one makes oneself redundant. 

My guess is that many practitioners experience this, not just osteopaths, all practitioners. Physiotherapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists and doctors.  We feel mobilized by the patient to "JUST DO SOMETHING"... and we do!

Understanding this dynamic which I refer to as "mobilized" can be helpful to us.  Next time you are with a patient ask yourself  "How is this patient making me feel?" and thus "How am I acting?". This may help you to stop acting outside the patient's and perhaps your best interests.

So I have reached the end of my blog. I wonder whether you liked it or not.  Will I be criticized for it? Are these feelings mine alone and not experienced by others? On the other-hand, perhaps I'll be regaled and applauded. Still, at least I've satisfied my urge to act.

PALMM - Program for Advanced Learning of Manual Medicine