Seven Reasons Why You Should NOT Consider Your Patients As Your Family

Most Doctors claim / consider their patients as their own family. Though there are some benefits for this kind of behaviour there are multiple reasons why you should not consider your customers as your family

1. 𝐂𝐋𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 : Your Clinic is a Business. (YES, that’s the TRUTH, though some of you may not understand it, now). The ultimate purpose of its existence is REVENUE / PROFIT generation not RELATIONSHIP making. We offer a service /product in exchange for financial compensation. The rules should be clear and the transaction is expected and is to be respected. If you were to build a relationship, you better get married / make friends rather than attaching it with your clinic / profession

2. 𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐄 : You will not be able to raise your price, when consider your patients as family members. When you are eligible / deserve a hike in your consulting fee / product cost / service charge, it should be implemented in your clinic irrespective of your ‘attachment’ with your clients. If we ‘over’ attached, we will start to consider their jobs, their family status, recent deaths in family, their financial status before you tell your price for the service you have offered. ( REMEMBER : a growing clinic is NOT the growth in the number of patients but the profit that clinic makes.)

3. 𝐍𝐎 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊: You do not have a choice of ‘divorcing’ your family members when they get on your nerves. If you are considering them as a family and have unnecessary bonding with them, we will have to tolerate all the behavioral tantrums they present with. Just like what most of our relatives/ cousins express inside the family circle. You do not have a choice of changing your paternal uncle / maternal nanny just for the fact that they are rude. But, when it comes to our patients, we need to set boundaries.

4. 𝐍𝐄𝐆𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐒 : When we consider them as family, we tend to neglect their needs and inconveniences, just like we do in our families. We have to constantly remind ourself, they are our patients who have contracted with us to have their healthcare needs met and we have to fulfil that in return for the financial compensation

5. 𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 : When it comes to medical profession, the relationship between a doctor and a patient is purely professional. The patient is expected to follow the instructions and abide with the dietary/ general / medical advices proposed by the doctor. In most ‘family’ set up, we take people for granted

6. 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓 : In a family atmosphere, people tend to not show respect / regard to each other, owing to the fact that, ‘we are a family’. But when it comes to our patients, the mutual respect is necessary for the smooth functioning of the organisation called clinic / hospital.

7. 𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐌𝐀 : Many doctors are attached to your patients and are worried about why/ when their sickness is not getting cured as they expect, worried about what can I do more to them so that to impress them more. When it comes to the doctor-patient scenario, its our responsibility to do the best that we could and leave the rest.

𝙄𝙉 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝘾𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙄𝘾, 𝘽𝙐𝙄𝙇𝘿 𝘼 𝘾𝙐𝙎𝙏𝙊𝙈𝙀𝙍 𝘽𝘼𝙎𝙀, 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝘼 𝙁𝘼𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙔.

If 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙃𝙊𝙈𝙀, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.