Personally Speaking 9
Give and Take By Dr Lawrence Chan
G
ive and take sounds innocuous. By communication, one means the responsibility for health care costs and
It means to give room to each knowledge and understanding of facts try to reduce them by judicious use of
other, to allow the other to in each of this tripartite relationship. We medicines and technology.
get and oneself to give, and on another must understand that patients are now In the area of cooperation, the three
occasion, vice versa. Often, on becoming more knowledgeable and concerned parties are to come together to achieve
a member of a social club we hear a about disease and they think they know synergy for the outcome of health care.
new member asking, “What do I get out how best it can be managed in their case. Patients must be responsible for keeping
of it?” On the other hand, the club’s In Singapore, since patients contribute themselves healthy and preventing
president would like to ask, “What can to the costs, they want value for money. morbidity by early detection and
you contribute to its welfare?” So, the From what they read in the press, the treatment of disease. Doctors and health
ability of give and take seems necessary simple answer is to go to a good doctor care workers can give more explanation
for survival and well-being in society. at a clinic or hospital with up-to-date to the patient of treatment given so as to
In the area of delivery in health care facilities and they can be cured. This facilitate compliance. Managers can work
today, we have three players; the patients, false notion needs to be corrected. out together with health care workers’
the doctors/other health care givers Treatment outcome depends on the priorities for financial allocation
(providers) and the payers (managers). several factors; the severity of the disease, with reference to pattern of disease,
This paradigm has to be managed. It the medicine/surgery available and the patient need and medical development.
has given rise to three concerns. One, the condition and response of the patient. The glue to communication and
easy dissatisfaction of patients when they The best outcome cannot be assured cooperation is trust between the three
deem the care to be less than optimum in every case. parties. The patient should be able
and the early recourse to a negligence In the case of the doctor, he needs to feel confident in the advice and
suit. Second, the unhappiness of to keep abreast of knowledge and treatment that are given to him. The
doctors/health workers with the loss of new technology. This is best done by doctor/health care worker should be About the Author:
Dr Lawrence Chan
independence of how to best manage continuing professional development accorded respect and independence graduated MBBS in
their patients professionally. Third, and remains a challenge to the doctor in the way he manages his patient’s 1958 in Singapore.
the difficulty that managers have and the profession. The manager needs health problem. The manager can He has been in practice
as a gynaecologist for 40
in balancing the account books. Each to remind the doctor about containing the give assurance that public and private years. He retired in 1990
of these concerns is real and valid. rising costs of medical care consequent (patient’s) money is well spent as he, but continues as a clinical
The challenge is how to satisfy these on developing better facilities, having together with the enlightened doctor/ teacher. He also teaches a
weekly bible class, helps
concerns and optimize health care adequate medical and nursing staff, and health worker and responsible patient,
mind the 3 grandchildren,
delivery to the patient. The answer lies in the adoption of new technology. Doctors achieve good quality health care at a reads and tries to
communication, cooperation and trust. and health care workers must assume rate that the country can afford. s write regularly.