Your Doctor Said What

Please ask us a question about communication issues with your physician! Your opinion counts - this information is so valuable - the answers to your questions will become the "fodder" for newsletters and future books as well. When this audio is done or when you click it to off, move to this webpage and ask a question. Doing so gets your name and email address on the "Your Doctor Said What" mailing list (we do NOT spam) and it will get you a free chapter of the book.

Even though risking the wrath of her fellow physicians, Dr. Terrie Wurzbacher decided that it was time that fingers were pointed. "Your Doctor Said What?" is a result of her 30 years of experience with patients, with students, and most importantly AS a patient. She found that communication in the medical field really doesn’t exist today.

Her book has explanations, quotes, stories and suggestions/tips for doctors and patients alike. If these tips are followed by all parties, people would get along better. She is excellent at explaining to patients how doctors have to learn 3 languages, 3 ‘speaks’ – "medical-speak", "insurance-speak", and then "patient-speak". All three of these languages are necessary for taking care of the patient. Dr. Wurzbacher wants the patient to understand that doctors don’t intentionally treat them poorly. Most of the time, they really don’t understand the importance of better communication. Both parties get frustrated and yet don’t realize why – or if they do, they don’t know what to do about it.

She points out many things that doctors can and should do to help patients. She points out that doctors come at everything from an objective position whereas patients are coming at it from a subjective, or emotional, perspective. With this dichotomy, it’s very easy to see how problems develop.