Chapter 4: How can we get doctors to prescribe Information Therapy?

Mr Rathod had been experiencing pain in his abdomen, so he went to his GP for a check-up. After examining the test reports, his doctor told him that he had Choledocholithiasis. Mr Rathod was taken aback, thinking it was a serious disease, only to breathe a sigh of relief when he was informed that the simpler definition for his ailment was gallstones in the gallbladder, a fairly common condition that is easily treatable. When it comes to interacting with patients, using simple, jargon-free language is of the essence. Imagine if a doctor told you that you had Xerostomia? You would think oh, woe is me. Well, all it means is that you have a dry mouth! So how do doctors communicate in an unambiguous manner to their medically uninformed patients? Information Therapy to the rescue, again!

If doctors are indeed smart and know that patients want more information about their illnesses, then why dont doctors routinely prescribe Information Therapy? There is no conspiracy of silence here! The sad truth is that most doctors simply do not understand the importance of Information Therapy. It is not that doctors enjoy keeping their patients in the dark, so they can extract money from them. Most doctors are happy to share information with their patients, and educating them will not turn them into medical professionals. Patients will still need to come to their doctor to get the treatment they need. The core problem is that educating patients is still not a top priority for doctors. They have a completely different worldview. Since they are doctors and know a lot about medicine, they sometimes assume that their patients are equally well-informed, which of course is not the case. Many will use jargon without even realizing that it is going above the patients head. Medicalese has become their primary language!

The trick is to make the patient do the work, using the self-service model supermarkets do, versus the old fashioned kirana shop! In the kirana store, all products are fetched by an assistant from shelves while customers wait in front of the counter and indicate the items they want. This is a very labour-intensive and therefore also quite expensive. The shopping process is slow, since the number of customers who can be attended to at one time is limited by the number of staff employed in the store. Supermarkets, on the other hand, make customers select their own goods and cart them to the front of the store to pay for them, so that they can service a much larger number of customers by making them do most of the work! Similarly, Information Therapy tools allow patients to serve themselves, so their doctors precious time can be used for more productive and empathetic patient interaction.

What can we do to persuade doctors to prescribe Information Therapy routinely?

1. 1. Some will start doing so when they realize the value that Information Therapy adds to their practice . and to their patients. These are the early adopters . who pick up on new trends, and use them cleverly. They take pride in delighting their patients; and will use new technology and tools to do so.
2. 2. Many will prescribe Information Therapy when they see leading doctors doing so regularly. We are all social animals, and the herd mentality is strong amongst doctors as well!
3. 3. Some will start when they are pushed into doing so by their patients. Patients do have clout, even though they often do not realize it! Doctors cannot survive without patients, and if enough patients start clamouring for information, doctors will toe the line and start offering it.
4. 4. Let us not forget that doctors are rational human beings, and will respond appropriately to the right financial incentives. Once they get paid for providing Information Therapy (either by the government or by health insurance companies), many will start routinely providing this to their patients.