Last Updated on December 13, 2022 by Shabnam Sengupta
Dr Puja Lakhotia, MBBS, MS ENT, is currently working with the Department of ENT & Skull Base Surgery at SUM Ultimate Medicare, Bhubaneshwar.
What is the best thing you enjoy about treating patients?
I like it when my patients gain benefits from my treatment. Other than that, the entire process of interacting with different kinds of people, understanding their problems, reaching a diagnosis and formulating a treatment plan gives me a sense of satisfaction like nothing else.
When is a patient easy to treat?
When the patient has faith in their treating doctor and is keen to know about the underlying cause of their disease, it becomes easier to prescribe and ensure compliance to treatment. This in turn impacts the success of treatment positively.
When is a patient difficult to treat?
A patient is most difficult to treat when they trust external sources of information over their doctors. When a patient walks in with pre-conceived notions about their disease and treatment, it becomes extremely difficult to bust their myths.
How helpful is it to the treatment course, if the patient is knowledgeable about the treatment procedure, benefits, risks etc.?
While it is easier to explain the treatment options to a knowledgeable patient, this scenario is quite like a double-edged sword. There always are a few patients who question the doctor’s expertise based on information gathered from not-so reliable sources. I’m all for questions about the disease and treatment, but it truly is unfair and at times irksome when years of studies and practice are questioned because someone (who is not a doctor) on some social media site or the internet said otherwise.
How can a patient improve their knowledge about the treatment procedure?
A patient can improve their knowledge through published articles in reputed journals, standard medical books, reliable medicine-related websites, etc. like the ones made by MOHFW, WHO, renowned hospitals.
How does medical misinformation act as a problem in the overall treatment procedure?
Medical misinformation is potentially life-threatening and thus in itself poses a big danger. I have seen patients with cancer delay treatment because someone told them that the treatment would give them more side-effects than benefits. Cancer is now increasingly becoming a disease which, with current advancements in medical science, can even be cured if treated early.
A few advice that you always give to your patients…
I tell all my patients to exercise, eat in moderation, drink plenty of water and avoid/stop substance abuse (wherever applicable). As far as escaping misinformation goes, I ask them to verify their information from doctors and authentic sources.
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