I recently went to a specialist ob/gyn. I couldn’t believe the questions they asked. Are there guns in your home? Do you feel threatened or are you afraid of anyone?
I said my husband and I are happily married, have been for many years and that I found their questions threatening and intrusive but I was not afraid. So would you please just treat my medical condition and don’t harass me about things that are not your business. The nurse looked quite taken aback, but the doctor saw me and I am in treatment.
This line of questioning once came up with pediatricians too. I told my children to answer any such questions with “you will need to talk to my parents about that” The one doctor who asked me I looked straight in the face and asked “do you have any in your home?” Not another word was said on the matter.
http://www.dconline.cc/SDCA_%20PB_Training2.htm - What are Professional Bouncaries
Think about the keys to what the presentation tells you about Professional Boundaries.
* The ethical considerations between you and your patient are of the greatest importance, because there needs to be trust and comfort felt by the patient.
* How a patient interprets the things you say and do is not always anywhere near what you meant to communicate.
* You as the doctor are always in the position of power and knowledge.
* The Doctor must always be in control of the emotional elements of the relationship.
* The Doctor - Patient relationship by definition is one of unequal powers.
* The Doctor - patient relationship is especially vulnerable to abuse.
* The Doctor best serves their patients by acting as advocates and fostering their patients’ rights to receive good health care.
* Doctors are expected to deal honestly with patients and colleagues, to respect their rights and to safeguard patient confidences within the constraints of the law.
* We have an obligation to honor our duty to our patient, our profession and society.
Speaking as a nurse I can say that ER nurses are being directed by Joint Commission to assess for domestic violence. When I do an admission assessment, I am required to assess for signs of abuse. In my current position, most of my patients wouldn’t show such signs, but we still are required to do so. That is where the questions about feeling “in danger” come from.
When I was in nursing school, the school had some speakers in to talk about domestic violence. The gist of their spiel was, the men always go free, if the woman fights back she is always arrested, etc. So I go off on about a co-worker I had once who shot her drug crazed husband who was holding a knife to her child. The police that responded told her to go to her family out of town to avoid retaliation by in-laws. They said “we see no crime committed here by you”. Totally upset their apple cart of victimhood!
Mine sent a questionaire to which I answered "WTF???" When I get in there, we're going to talk.
Great response, on that last! See my #88 as well, there is some additional “ammo” for you there in having these conversations.