If you have a good family doctor, then you know how crucial they are. But what makes a good family doctor?
A good family doctor has the medical expertise needed to offer the care you need and, when they can’t, directs you to the specialist who can. Having a good family doctor can mean the difference between getting cured and getting sicker. It can, in some cases, literally mean the difference between life and death. Good family doctors are essential.
Here are 4 qualities that make a good family doctor, besides medical expertise.
Table of Contents
1. Bedside Manner
A good family doctor has a good bedside manner, meaning the ability to convey empathy and genuine concern about their patients’ health and well-being. Good bedside manner helps patients feel cared for. It helps them feel they can trust their doctor with their health and with their most vulnerable information—the sort of information they aren’t willing to share with anyone else.
After all, plenty of issues that patients discuss with their family doctor aren’t comfortable; for instance, digestive troubles, sexual dysfunctions, anything to do with genitals, and mental health. If a patient feels cared for, they are far more likely to speak openly, and therefore receive the treatment they need, then if a patient doesn’t feel cared for, in which case they may hide things from their doctor, thereby preventing themselves from seeking the help they need.
2. Competence
No matter how brilliant or personable a doctor is, if they’re not competent, they won’t provide good care.
Competence is a quality that’s often overlooked and taken for granted. But competence takes effort. Doctors, like everyone else, aren’t born competent. They must work hard to, for instance, lead teams, collaborate, efficiently book appointments via an API scheduling system, and process medical records.
Competence, like bedside manner, instills trust in patients.
3. Health
This is a funny one. You may think that doctors, being doctors, make sure to stay healthy and although that is mostly true, it isn’t true across the board. Not all doctors practice what they preach. But doctors need to be healthy to perform their job.
They need to be able to spend energy on their patients while remaining physically sharp and present. Sure, family doctors, unlike other kinds of doctors, aren’t constantly working 12 to 24-hour shifts like surgeons, but some do have to be on call for 24 hours to respond to emergencies. To do so effectively, they need to be healthy.
Plus, being healthy reduces the risk of burnout, which is always a risk in a field as demanding as medicine.
4. Optimism
For doctors, it helps to be optimistic. Optimism is infectious, so to speak, and an optimistic doctor can spread that optimism to their patients, and optimistic patients tend to have better health outcomes.
More, optimists tend to be healthier than cynics, meaning optimistic doctors tend to be healthier which, as mentioned above, is one quality that makes a good family doctor.
The Bottom Line
If you’re searching for a good family doctor, ask yourself whether, in addition to medical expertise, they have these four qualities. A good family doctor can go a long way.
