Many patients say that they do not feel the same connection to their doctors that their parents, and their grandparents, felt with their physicians. The biggest reason stated for the change in attitude towards physicians is the age of technology.

Technology is making doctors cold and impersonal

In the past when the doctor came into the examination room with a patient they sat and talked with the patient. The doctor had to make notes in the chart they kept on the patient, but the medical professionals appeared to be listening, looking the patient in the eye, and responding to the conversation they were having.

Today the doctors come into the examination room and they spend a lot more time staring at the screens on laptop computers than they do looking at the patient. The doctors are focused on the laptop instead of the patient and it makes the patient feel like their medical team is cold and impersonal to their needs.

Technology in the Medical Office Benefits

The doctors love that the new technology is providing them with so many ways to help their patients. The patient records are on the laptops and the doctor can pull up any test result, or anything concerning the patient without having to call for a nurse, and wait for the information to be pulled from a file and brought to them. This means it is easier for the doctor to give an accurate diagnosis.

The new technology makes it much easier for a doctor to make referrals for their patients, and schedule testing, and future appointments. The doctor now has a complete list of their patient’s medications in front of them without having to flip through several pages of a file. They can make changes to prescriptions and send those prescriptions to the pharmacy with a simple click of a mouse.

In the view of medical professionals the new technology makes everything in the doctor offices work smoother, be done quicker, and be more accurate. The medical staff do not always see the distance that the technology is putting between them and the physical patient.

What can be done?

Medical professionals and doctors can take the time to look their patient in the eye when they are talking to them. If you work in the medical field then learn to look up from the monitor, you are viewing and look into the eyes of the person you are in the room with. Eye contact makes a person feel as if the other person is truly listening to them.

Ask the patient questions about their lives, their family, or their work. These types of questions make the medical professional seem more caring, and the details of patient lives may reveal more about their condition than their symptoms do. Take time to get to know little things about the people you see and treat.

Patients can try and be more patient with their doctors. The doctors do not really mean to be turning into cold machines, and patients can ask the doctor questions and engage them in conver