Last week I went to see a gastroenterologist. I had never met this
doctor before, and she did not know what I was there for. As soon as I
arrived, somebody showed me to an examining room and handed me a gown.
They told me to undress (from the waist down, to be exact) and wait for the
doctor. Is this the usual drill when you go to a doctor for the first
time? I don't have much experience going to doctors (knock on wood), but
on the couple of occasions when I've gone to a new doctor, I met him
with my clothes on. First, he introduced himself, asked what I was there
for and took a history, all before I undressed.

Are patients usually expected to get {*filter*} before meeting a doctor
for the first time? Personally, I'd prefer to meet the doctor on
something remotely resembling a condition of parity and to establish an
identity as a person who wears clothes before dropping my drawers. If
nothing else, it minimizes the time that I have to spend in the self
conscious, ill at ease and vulnerable condition of a person with a bare
bottom talking to somebody who is fully clothed.

Does anybody besides me regard this get-{*filter*}-first-and-then-we-can-talk
attitude as insensitive? Also, is it unusual?

This is not an unusual practice if the doctor is also a
member of a nudist colony.

--
Sir, I admit your gen'ral rule
That every poet is a fool;
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet.    A. Pope

PLEASE NOTE:  I do not mean this as a flame to doctors, or even to
doctors who practice this "undress first and we'll meet later" policy.

I'm merely suggesting that, in *some* cases, the reason for this
type of request is not so innocent; and more importantly, I don't know
how many people, including the doctors, realize the impact this can
have on a doctor-patient relationship.  For example, it's frightening
how *very* long it took me to become upset by the fact that
I never spoke to my gynecologist while fully dressed.  I knew that I
didn't feel very comfortable confiding in him, but I thought that was
just because he was a male doctor, or for a host of other
reasons.  Because he wasn't *bad* otherwise, and because of the
hassle, I never bothered to look for another doctor until I needed to
see someone *immediately* a few weeks ago and preferred not to travel
the hour to reach my doctor.  

I was amazed!  A doctor I was referred to met with me in his office,
fully dressed, before I even went into the examining room.
He had a nurse check in on me to see if I needed anything
while I was undressing in a curtained cubicle in the examining room.  
After the exam, he had me get dressed and come back into his office
to speak with me again.  Not surprisingly,
I found myself telling him things both before and after the exam that
I had never even told my (now) former doctor.  And you know
something--I don't think he lost time while I was undressing.  I think
that was the time he uses to return phone calls, dictate notes,
etc.--it wasn't at all inefficient.  And more improtantly, it made me
feel *human*, and dare I say it, like his client--his equal--rather
than someone he has complete power over, i.e. his patient.  And from a
demographic standpoint, he was both male and approximately the
same age as my other doctor.

I agree that the current trend toward "efficiency" may lead doctors to
the "undress first" attitude, but I feel that all medical services
consumers have to recognize the danger this poses, not only to
our sense of control over our own medical care, but also to our
health.  

Renee Cyr

------------------------

Philosophy Department;Wesleyan University;USA

+-------------
|>>>Does anybody besides me regard this get-{*filter*}-first-and-then-we-can-talk
|>>>attitude as insensitive? Also, is it unusual?
|                     --------------------------------------            
|>>It is not unusual.  It saves time.  That's why it is done.  
|                     --------------------------------------      
|   <excellent story about value of communication with doctor deleted>
|
|I agree that the current trend toward "efficiency" may lead doctors to
|the "undress first" attitude, but I feel that all medical services
|consumers have to recognize the danger this poses, not only to
|our sense of control over our own medical care, but also to our
|health.  
+------------------------

Thank you so much for making these points Renee ... anyone who has worked in
the medical environment knows that a little communication _increases_ effi-
ciency as well as facilitating good medical care.

There are many med students at my school; I don't know whether they are taught
the "undress first, talk later attitude" or whether they arrived with it but
from my observations, a disproportionate number of them seem to have extrapo-
lated the mode into their personal lives as well... I dated one, just once :-)

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Leave your pants with wallet at recpetionist and proceed to examination
rooms.

--
Jeff Sicherman
up the net without a .sig

Cheers,                                      Len Howard

JT

Just my opinion.

Thomas

"Well, so, Carol," he said.

"My name is Barbara," I corrected.

He said a few words, and again addressed me as Carol.

"My name is Barbara," I reminded him.

"Hmm," he said, "I wonder why I want to call you 'Carol'?"

"I don't know," I said.  "Do you have the right chart?"

===
Dealing with the same problem, I saw the same gynecologist three
times in two weeks.  Each time she couldn't remember my name.

I asked my primary physician for another referral.  

====

I realize that doctors are busy.  I understand that they see lots and
lots of patients.  I still consider it essential, and essentially
my own responsibility, to make sure the doctor recognizes me (or my
file) and calls me by the right name.

In the event, it wasn't necessary.