I have to go back to my doctor's this week and I suspect that neither of us are looking forward to the experience all that much. We hear a lot about how important it is for health care professionals (HCPs) to be non-judgmental in their dealing with patients but very little about what happens to the HCP/patient relationship when the patient is doing the judging.
Although I haven't visited my GP very much (not at all in the last 30 years) we have settled into a nice mutually judgmental relationship. He finds me irritating and demanding because I understand health care, know what treatment I need and ask for it repeatedly. I find him patronizing and unhelpful because he insists on doing tests to find out what is wrong with me rather than just giving me the treatment I want. Neither of us are wrong - we just understand each others position, disagree with it and try to work round it. This attitude does not necessarily have a negative effect our relationship, rather it places it upon an equal footing which is often lacking in other HCP/patient interactions.
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