Dr Ronesh Ghosh holds an MD (Physician) degree from DMSF, Philippines, and has 1.5 years of experience. He is currently a Neurosurgery Resident at Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, Delhi. Patient must acquire the knowledge to ensure a better diagnostic accuracy, he affirms.
When a patient explains to you about their health problems, what are the most common mistakes they make in their communication?
Sometimes patients are not completely honest with their symptoms and often they miss out on some symptoms that they feel are not important enough. However, these small points sometimes help us in making a proper diagnosis for the patient. If patients are honest themselves, then its one of the mistake on their part.
What does health literacy mean to you, and why is it important in patient care?
Health literacy is – when patients and their caretakers try to gain knowledge about the exact condition of their disease and also knowing about the various risk factors which will make their condition worse and also knowing how to prevent certain diseases. Health literacy is very important for patient care as it is not only limited to the present patient condition but also to knowing those factors which can help the patient live a comfortable life ahead. As healthcare professionals, we shouldn’t only treat the disease but we should treat the patients.
If a patient is knowledgeable about the basics of their health condition, how helpful is it for the overall treatment procedure?
When the patient is knowledgeable about his basic health condition, it helps the doctor in making a proper diagnosis. Hence, helping in starting the perfect treatment plan for the patients. The patients should be aware if they have any allergies to any particular medication and should inform their doctor, so that an alternative medicine can be started for the patient. These small factors have a major role in the overall diagnostic accuracy.
How much can medical misinformation impact treatment procedures?
A textbook example is — when the disease is in the early stages the patients sometimes diverts with the misinformation and start their own treatment plan and only visit the doctor when the disease has done significant damage to the body.
What are the most common myths or misinformation you see your patients falling prey to?
One of the common misinformation that I have come across in my field is that even after so much advancement in the medical sciences, people still think that spine surgery has very poor outcomes. However, on the contrary, people lead a very healthy and disease free life after spine surgeries due to the recent advancements in this field. Spine surgery is one of the safe surgeries unlike what the patients generally perceive.
Another example is the ‘anti-vaxers’. They literally make their kids vulnerable to a number of diseases which could have been avoided if their kids had taken proper vaccines. They not only make their kids vulnerable, but also create a risk for the reemergence of the eradicated diseases in the society.
What is your most common advice to patients to stay away from health misinformation online?
If something is related to your health always take expert’s advice for better diagnostic accuracy. Don’t be afraid of asking questions to your doctors. They will have all answers for your questions. They have spent a number of years specifically training for you. No one knows what’s good for your health better than your doctors.
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