Crunch Time!

Understanding Your Doctor

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Instead of assuming your doctor is giving you the brush off,try reading between the lines

1. He says: “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”

You hear:”You’re wasting my time with trivia.”

What’s behind it? Doctors see illness at its earliest stages when a firm diagnosis is not always possible.

Aspirin is unlikely to cause harm and will ease minor symptoms until the problem is more obvious.

2. He says:”This won’t hurt a bit.”

You hear:”This is going to hurt like hell.”

What’s behind it? Doctor are aware of patient’s fears and their reputation depends as much on their reputation depends as much on their ability to soothe as to diagnose.Muscles tensed in expectation of pain resist probing fingers and needles,causing pain and discomfort anyway.

3. He says:”It’s a virus.”

You hear,”I’ve no idea what’s wrong with you.”

What’s behind it? Viruses pack out waiting rooms can cause a wide variety of symptoms. As the vast majority are harmless and self-imitating,saying this is a way of buying time.Either the problem will solve itself,or evolve into something recognizable.

4. He says:” I’m sending you to specialist.”

You hear.”I’ve had enough of you.”

What’s behind it? Doctors know a bit about everything.Specialist, on the other hand know everything about a bit.Combine these two types of expertise  and you have a safe,efficient system.Sometimes,the need for a specialist opinion is obvious, or your doctor may be worried about missing a serious cause of a symptom such as tiredness.

5. He says:” Is there anything else ?”

You hear:”Is that all you’ve come about?”

What’s behind it?  A good technique for finding out what the patient really came about. This often applies to men,who are notorious for spending 90% of the time discussing cold,only to admit to impotence just as they’re leaving.

Keith Hopcroft in The TIMES

Info on Medical Careers

Health and Medical Careers If you think about it, health and medical careers are very similar as they both want the same thing that is to care for the welfare of the patient. To give some idea, here are a few possible careers that you may get into.

1. Brushing and flossing your teeth isn’t enough to keep them clean. This is why people are told to visit the dentist once a year or every six months. Dentistry is usually completed after 8 years of education. It takes just as long as a medical doctor and analysts believe this demand will grow as the large number of are expected to retire soon. The job of the dentist is to diagnose, prevent and treat problems in the teeth and also the mouth tissue. They may perform x-rays, put in protective plastic sealants, extract or repair fractured teeth. If patients need to straighten their teeth, then they have to visit an orthodontist. Dentists use a variety of equipment to get the job done. These include mouth mirrors, probes, forceps, brushes, scalpels, drills and x-ray machines. To protect themselves and their patients, they must always sterilize their equipment; wear masks, gloves that must be disposed afterwards and protective glasses. More »