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BEDSIDEMANNER.INFO
BECAUSE PATIENTS JUDGE YOUR SKILLS BY YOUR BEDSIDE MANNER
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(2025/02/03)
 

Psychiatrist to nurse: “Just say we’re very busy, don’t keep saying, ‘It’s a madhouse.’”

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While in the beginning, competency was not defined as a critical component of bedside manner; it is the essence of being a truly great provider. Everyone in the health-care industry should strive to be the most competent provider around.

Creed of Competency: It is the duty of all health-care providers to be the best that they can be, to limit practice to areas of expertise and competency, and to seek quality continuing education to make sure that they remain at the leading edge of the science and art of practice. It is the obligation of every practitioner to know when to refer patients for specialty care. 

Competency should be a matter of fact in all endeavors. When you fly, you expect the pilot and crew to be highly competent. Patients expect the same from their doctors. The duty of the examining and licensing boards is to make sure doctors are competent and remain competent throughout their years of practice. Unfortunately, competency is not always guaranteed. While states have made a good attempt at maintaining competency by requiring continuing education, very little is done to police the profession. As a result, there are incompetent practitioners.

Even with the lack of guaranteed competency that we know exists, the public still maintains the belief that doctors are competent. Ironically, every patient likes to believe that not only are their doctors competent, but that they are the best. Fortunately, most times they are at least correct on the former assumption.

I have known several incompetent practitioners cherished by their patients. I have seen waiting rooms filled to capacity with wait times of, literally, hours. If you told the patients that there’s a doctor next door who could see them immediately, not one of them would leave. What these doctors lacked in competency they made up in bedside manner. That’s loyalty! But that is not the type of practitioner you want to be.


Comments
• Tom (2025/02/04 16:40)
Competency is essential as a healthcare provider to ensure that patients are receiving the highest quality of care. It is also important for your own internal dialogue to feel good about yourself too! You can be rest assured that you’re helping people and are practicing to the highest standards without cutting corners. Your staff knows too! They can be your biggest advocate and instill confidence in your patients when they come in. They can also get you referrals and tell their own family and friends to come in for treatment. Unfortunately, patients won’t know the difference. They’ll see dentists that aren’t competent but will continue to go due their bed side manner or personality. I feel like it’s more of an internal moral compass at the end of the day. You need to feel good when you look at yourself the mirror!
• John Millar (2025/02/04 16:07)
This blog builds off of the pain blog: if you are able to give a painless injection (competence), you will more than likely have a lot of patients, regardless of your bedside manner. With that being said, an ideal scenario would be a great bedside manner with competence. Fortunately, the two are not mutually exclusive. During residency, I would say that I am becoming more competent. At the beginning it was difficult. I know my patients were able to pick up on a lack of confidence when I was describing certain aspects of the treatment. Now, even if I know I will struggle clinically, discussing those aspects confidently presents competence and my patients are much more accepting of treatment plans. Fake it till you make it I guess.
• karen.m.kimzey@gmail.com (2025/02/03 22:36)
My first associateship out of my GPR was at a very successful, stable and busy family practice. The senior doctor had very loyal patients. I remember doing a hygiene check on a patient who could not stop raving about the #7 root canal the senior dr did for him. He went on and on about how the pain went away, how the doctor went the extra mile to take care of him and how he did such a great job. Then I looked at the #7 PA - my jaw dropped under my mask but I kept smiling and nodding in agreement. The PA was just a 2-D snap shot but it looked horrible, even a new associate can appreciate the ill-fill and saliva contamination inside because he didn\'t use a RD! I hope to create loyalty by getting to know my patients, following-up with them carefully, tailoring their treatment to their needs, keeping up to date with CE\'s but also knowing when to say \"I don\'t know\". When I first started, I didn\'t like saying \"I don\'t know\" to a patient. As the years past, I learned that they actually liked it when I realized my limitations and said \"I don\'t know but let me find out\" or \"I don\'t know, but I might know someone who does\" etc.
• Ji (2025/02/03 21:39)
I agree that competency is really the backbone of being a great provider. Practicing as a general dentist for several years prior to beginning my specialist training, I wanted to pursue a higher level of training because I understood firsthand how critical it is to stay on top of our craft. While bedside manners are important and some patients may decide to remain loyal to a practitioner who may lack skill but excel in their manner, this excerpt points out that that\'s not a sustainable model. This is a good reminder that balancing compassion with expertise is key to truly building trust and loyalty with our patients.

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