How to make sense of your IVF doctor’s advice

Infertility specialists are sought after by patients for their tremendous technical expertise. Infertility doctors master technical skills like egg collections and embryo transfers over several years in medical school. Our patients at Malpani Fertility Clinic have come to us not only for our technical prowess but also for our professional opinion. Rightly so, as medical professionals like infertility specialists can properly suggest possible treatment options and advise them on their best course of action.

Although a significant number do expect guidance from the doctor, this is not true of all infertile couples. These couples have a course of action in mind and simply want the doctor to implement their plan as a technician. They want the doctor to carry out assisted reproductive procedures for them in the laboratory as they cannot do it themselves in their own bedroom. For their purpose, a doctor is merely a trained technician than a professional.

Because they know their own minds, this makes them an easy group of patients to deal with , as they do not require much counseling. For them the IVF clinic simply has to carry out their treatment plan. Older women with poor ovarian reserve comprise many of these patients. They are unwilling to consider egg donation or adoption and therefore want the doctor to perform IVF for them, even while knowing fully well that with their depleted ovarian reserve, their chances for success are pretty low. http://blog.drmalpani.com/2012/12/should-patients-follow-their-doctors.html

Helping patients make sense of their medications

It is difficult for patients to manage their medications. The elderly , among many others , tend to take several medications in different doses at varying times of the day. There are often complaints of numerous side effects of these medicines, some of the complications a result of cross reactions between these medicines.

The law mandates pharmaceutical companies provide information about the medicine on its package. The purpose of these leaflets is to help patients understand their medicines , so they take them properly . But there are numerous complaints against these leaflets, for instance, tiny or cramped text, bad printing, hard to understand warning symbols, incoherent instructions, complicated language etc. 

Dr. Malpani speculates how many people even bother to read these leaflets, let alone understand them.

These leaflets are not patient-friendly. They are apparently designed to be compliant with the law alone. The attitude of pharmaceutical companies by publishing information in this manner seems to be self-protection against potential lawsuits by aggrieved patients than to actually prevent a health risk for patients. Since the leaflets are barely readable at best, a chance at patient education is lost. Thus, patients are oblivious to the side effects and complications of the drugs they are consuming. Read more about health literacy at http://blog.drmalpani.com/2012/11/how-promoting-health-literacy-can-help.html

Can technology help doctors understand patients better?

Patients have a growing concern that the influx of computers in clinical care will greatly depersonalize clinical care. Their complaints against technology concern the disruption of the doctor-patient relationship as the doctor might pay more attention to the computer screen than the patient. In accordance with this idea, doctors do find technology highly interesting, especially to review medical reports, images and scans as they consider it a part of their scientific core competence. Then again, it is unfair to pit digital technology against humanistic clinical care. Instead of a confrontation of such extreme sides it is wiser to have technology work in tandem with a humanistic approach for the benefit of both the doctor and patient. Rather than a distraction, technology helps doctors diagnose easily and better, thus, sparing them more time to interact personally with their patients.

The first requisite for a doctor upon seeing a patient is medical, that is, to correctly diagnose the condition and design a treatment plan. Doing a good job of this as a clinical scientist is a necessary prerequisite for the doctor to move on to the next part of handling the patient’s emotions and psyche. A doctor must be equipped with the skill set required to perform these two complimentary tasks. Read more about the tasks at http://blog.drmalpani.com/2012/11/how-computers-can-help-doctors-to.html

Why do patients hesitate to change IVF doctors when they are dissatisfied ?

It is common for a patient to experience failures with IVF not just once but several times. In addition, many patients are also dissatisfied with the kind of medical services provided by their clinic of choice. What is astonishing is that nevertheless, they choose to continue with the same clinic.
Many patients are stuck because they do not have any alternatives. For instance, when they are undergoing a government aided treatment procedure, they have to necessarily go to a particular clinic mandated by the government. However, when patients are paying a hefty fee for IVF treatments at private clinic, they do have the option of switching clinics, which, surprisingly, they do no avail of.

Patients may feel they are cheating their chosen doctor by discontinuing with him, even though they may be discontented with him. Some believe that the doctor who has already done one IVF cycle for them might have got considerable insight into their case and thus, may be successful the next time. Many patients simply refuse to consider better clinics either because of their false generalized perception that all IVF clinics offer the same quality of treatment; or due to their reluctance to take the effort to search for a better choice. Their reluctance may stem both from a lack of awareness and lethargy. It is possible that they may not know how and where to look.

Take a deeper look into this issue at http://blog.drmalpani.com/2012/12/why-dont-patients-fire-their-ivf-doctor.html.

Improving the clinical consultation

The conventional method of the face to face clinical consultation to start an association between a doctor and a patient has both pros and cons. With incessant traffic jams, the trip to a doctor’s clinic is time consuming. The doctor may get caught up in an emergency which might result in a lengthy wait for the patient or cancellation of the consultation altogether. No wonder, this is highly tiresome. If the doctor is not at his cheerful best owing to some complication with another patient , a direct meeting might not be the best way to review your case. An extremely busy doctor with plenty of pending cases might liberally use complicated medical terms in his hurry , without giving an understandable explanation for the same. Reportedly, due to the strain of the consultation, most patients forget what the doctor said.

On the other hand, a face to face consultation allows the patient to judge the doctor, the atmosphere of the clinic, the behaviour of the staff and how comfortable it is likely to be for a patient. Most importantly, a patient can clearly eliminate any chances that a clinic might cheat him. Besides, a direct consultation will help the patient assess the doctor’s behaviour by the bedside, and whether they can effectively associate for a healthy professional relationship. Malpani Infertility Clinic explores cost & time effective alternatives as these consultations are usually lengthy and expensive. Know more at http://blog.drmalpani.com/2012/12/how-can-we-improve-clinical-consultation.html