“Mr. Michaelis wants you to call him,” said KB, my administrative manager.

“Who is Mr. Michaelis?” I asked.

“He is a patient. He wants to talk to you about a report that…”

At this point, most pathologists complexion changes to a deathly pallor. Their heart starts sprinting, a line of sweat breaks out on their upper lip and tremors extend from their shoulders to their fingertips. Four years of residency, a couple of years in a fellowship, an office in a dark office at the end of a faded linoleum-lined corridor, all so that they will never hear the words “a patient wants to talk to you.” We have made ourselves the “doctor’s doctor,” not the patient’s doctor.

For the most part, it is a successful maneuver. There aren’t many patients, or families of patients, who think of calling the pathologist when they don’t understand a Surgical Pathology report, or need an explanation of a Prolaris® or Oncotype Dx® test on a malignant prostate biopsy.

And that is OK. As pathologists, we send our blood test results or biopsy report out to the treating physician, and they do the heavy lifting with the patient. It makes sense since usually those providers have the best handle on what is going on with their patients and can best fit the test results into the entire health picture. But these days, with the advent of the (much hated) Electronic Medical Record, we pathologists, way off down the hall, can get a pretty good idea of what is going on with a patient’s medical care.

I will let you in on a secret. Despite my being an otherwise typical, pocket-protector toting, smeared glasses wearing pathologist, I enjoy talking with patients. I don’t mind explaining what I have seen under the microscope or what a particular change in blood PSA levels means. I try to use understandable words and remain professional, even in the face of patients who are upset with their diagnosis (or their bill) and really just want to vent.

There is one thing I tell patients upfront that I will not do, and that is advise them on their therapy. There are many choices, the evidence-based recommendations change daily, or at least monthly, and the patient’s urologist is really the place to go for proper guidance. Therefore I lay low on that issue, though when asked “Doc, what would you do if it was YOUR prostate,” I might give an answer.

So I listened without shivering as KB told me what Mr. Michaelis was upset about. I did a quick check of his report and of the Electronic Medical Record, and recognized he had a very good question about a blood level value referenced in the biopsy report. I gave him a call, explained who I was, and told him we would issue a corrected report. We then chatted for a few minutes about about his medical condition – but not his best therapeutic choices – and chatted for even longer about the weather on a cloudless, sunny, spring afternoon.

And for a few minutes I felt like a “real” doctor again!

____

The above is the opinion of the author and not of UroPartners LLC.

____
Like what you read here? Add your name to our subscription list below. No spam, I promise!

___

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */

//s3.amazonaws.com/downloads.mailchimp.com/js/mc-validate.js(function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]=’EMAIL’;ftypes[0]=’email’;fnames[1]=’FNAME’;ftypes[1]=’text’;fnames[2]=’LNAME’;ftypes[2]=’text’;}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);