The Highest Level Physician

There’s a powerful quote that comes from the 難經, the classic of difficulties, from almost 2,000 years ago that says:

The low-level physician gets 7/10 of their patients better; the mid-level physician gets 8/10 of their patients better; the high-level physician gets 9/10 of their patients better.

I found this to be quite interesting.

There’s almost one kind of patient universally unliked in the healthcare field. The hypochondriac.

The patient who comes in and “everything hurts.”

The patient who comes in with “EMF sensitivity.”

The patient who reports that they have “lasers shooting at them” causing their migraines.

The patient who categorically disagrees with everything, who can’t trust your “expert advice,” who can’t just take an answer and run with it.

Off the bat, most physicians immediately assume this person is a nutjob, and needs to increase their prozac dosage rather than spend more time researching on the internet.

Distrustful patients can be like irritating students – they never sit down when you ask them, they question everything, they can’t just take your advice as answer, and every solution you present, they object to.

But how can you consider yourself the “high level physician” if you don’t listen?

The high level physician is the one who listens intently, when she doesn’t want to.

The high level physician is the one who puts aside the skepticism, when he’s annoyed and has other patients waiting.

The high level physician is the one who can put aside their own B.S. and sometimes give the patient the one thing they’re really looking for – an expert who actually has the humility to listen.

-Alex

P.S.Just my 2 cents, or maybe the ramblings of an old alchemist.