Communicating with the Physician Led Team

By Wyman Bowers, SCMA Associate General Counsel

Why is communication so challenging?  For those of you who are married, not long after you walked down the aisle, and perhaps even before, you realized that during a conversation with your spouse, the concept you intended to convey was, apparently, not received in the manner in which you intended it. 

The transfer of information, particularly when done in verbal form, is vital in the delivery of healthcare. 

Most physicians reading this last sentence probably thought about the physician patient interaction.  That’s what I was going to talk about, but you know that bed-side manner is important; that taking time to answer patient’s and family member’s questions is just part of the practice of medicine.  Often it can be one of the most rewarding parts of the practice.

What you may not have thought about much is the communication that transpires between physicians and between physicians and other healthcare providers. 

We are living through transformation in healthcare. Part of the metamorphosis is learning how to work collaboratively and in more of a team setting.  For a host of reasons, including reimbursement and increased specialization just to mention two, most physicians practice in silos.  They don’t communicate well with other physicians or other healthcare providers about the totality of the care delivered to a patient.  Faxing medical records is communication, but it should be the minimum. 

Physicians are experts in their given specialized field.  We, as patients, want them to be. But patients need them to approach the medical challenges from a comprehensive perspective, not an isolated one.  Patients want to be healed. Yes, they want a new hip without a prolonged recovery and to be free of pain. But what they really want is to be able to walk again like they used to.  To do this, physician lead teams must approach the whole person; think comprehensively, and communicate effectively.