Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Doctors should ask the people what they want for health care

Pamela Wible, MD
Patient
March 22, 2011
Share
Tweet
Share

Americans typically rely on elected officials to uphold the will of the people. Now physicians—traditionally confined to exam rooms—are taking direct action to fulfill community needs.

In 2004 I decided to meet face to face with citizens in my hometown. I thought, “Why wait for legislation? I’m a board-certified physician. What’s stopping me from serving the public?”

So I led town hall meetings and invited ordinary citizens to create the clinic of their dreams.

From living rooms and Main Street cafes to neighborhood centers and yoga studios, I met directly with people and listened to their wisdom. Bus drivers and businessmen, housewives and healthcare workers, teachers, college students and folks of all ages gathered to design a new model, a template for the nation.

I asked each participant to imagine walking into an ideal clinic in an optimal healthcare system. Community members shared their visions; most submitted written testimony. My job was to implement their ideas where feasible.

From nine town hall meetings over six weeks, I collected one hundred pages of written testimony, adopted 90% of feedback, and opened our clinic one month later. For the first time my job description was written by my patients, not administrators.

What do people really want? Surprisingly, it’s nothing too extravagant. Here are their top ten recommendations, many in their own words:

1. Real relationships. Be fully present and willing to touch patients emotionally, spiritually, and physically. One woman’s simple request: “Hug me!”
2. Physician role models. Happy, healthy doctors inspire patients to live happy, healthy lives.
3. Integrative healing. All healing arts professionals should work together. Add on-site complementary therapies such as massage, yoga, and acupuncture.
4. Sacred space. An ideal clinic is “a sanctuary, a safe place, a place of wisdom . . . a place where we rediscover our priorities.”
5. Easy access. Same day appointments offered and everyone receives care when they need it.
6. Relaxed appointments. Visits are, at minimum, thirty minutes. Patients want to speak uninterrupted and “feel heard, understood, and cared for.”
7. Patient-centered care. One citizen’s advice: “Abolish cookie cutter medicine—everybody does not need the same thing.”
8. Community orientation. A doctor is part of the community and “knows everyone by their first name . . . knows patients in a social context.”
9. Creative financing. Offer patients an array of payment options: Consider monthly stipends and sliding-scale discounts. Accept donations, bartering, and insurance when possible.
10. Heath education. Transition from an acute care delivery system based on intervention to wellness-oriented healthcare system.

Doctors don’t usually ask for help, but sensible solutions are literally right next-door.
 I invite you to talk with your neighbors, to engage with your community, and most importantly, to act on what they tell you.

Pamela Wible pioneered the community-designed ideal medical clinic and blogs at Ideal Medical Care.

 

Submit a guest post and be heard on social media’s leading physician voice.

Prev

A surgeon on those who understand murderers, rapists and child molesters

March 21, 2011 Kevin 13
…
Next

Accountable care organizations: The lost art of medicine?

March 22, 2011 Kevin 11
…

Tagged as: Patients, Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
A surgeon on those who understand murderers, rapists and child molesters
Next Post >
Accountable care organizations: The lost art of medicine?

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Pamela Wible, MD

  • When health care professionals lose everything

    Pamela Wible, MD
  • Surgeon suicides: Unveiling a silent crisis

    Pamela Wible, MD
  • 13 tips for depressed doctors who need confidential mental health care

    Pamela Wible, MD

More in Patient

  • AI’s role in streamlining colorectal cancer screening [PODCAST]

    The Podcast by KevinMD
  • There’s no one to drive your patient home

    Denise Reich
  • Dying is a selfish business

    Nancie Wiseman Attwater
  • A story of a good death

    Carol Ewig
  • We are warriors: doctors and patients

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • Patient care is not a spectator sport

    Jim Sholler
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Beyond burnout: Understanding the triangle of exhaustion [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

      Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO | Conditions
    • Online eye exams spark legal battle over health care access

      Joshua Windham, JD and Daryl James | Policy
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      G. van Londen, MD | Meds
    • Pharmacists are key to expanding Medicaid access to digital therapeutics

      Amanda Matter | Meds
    • Why ADHD in women requires a new approach [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 13 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Beyond burnout: Understanding the triangle of exhaustion [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

      Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO | Conditions
    • Online eye exams spark legal battle over health care access

      Joshua Windham, JD and Daryl James | Policy
    • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

      G. van Londen, MD | Meds
    • Pharmacists are key to expanding Medicaid access to digital therapeutics

      Amanda Matter | Meds
    • Why ADHD in women requires a new approach [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Doctors should ask the people what they want for health care
13 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...