My Patients Don’t Know Me

We roll deep in academic medicine. Every morning during morning rounds, there are on average 5-6 doctors at the bedside to check in on patients. I don’t know about you, but I’m terrible with names when I’m at my healthiest. Now take a patient admitted for pneumonia, urinary tract infection, heart failure, or another draining ailment, trying to remember the name of their 5-6 doctors. Not happening…right? Right! The biggest study looking at this was done at the University of Chicago. They looked at 2807 patients admitted to the house staff general medical service at the over a 15 month period. The patients were asked to recall their physicians. The results were disappointing:

“75% of patients were not able to name anyone when asked to identify an inpatient physicians in charge of their care.”

For patients at an academic medical center, an important question is “Who is my doctor?” Technically, the attending physician is the official physician of record. But what about the residents who work just as hard to provide great care? In reality, we work as a team to care for patients. So when we ask patients “Who is your doctor?,” it is really the whole team. This team consists of a hierarchy of doctors: attendings, fellows, residents, interns, and medical students. But how do we convey this to patients? Does the average patient know the difference between a fellow and a resident? Hospitals have tried various solutions: photographs, handing out business card, physician names displayed on dry erase boards or staff face sheets.

We can definitely do better. I want my patients to know me. Not just for selfish reasons, but because this is a key step in empowering a patient. Medicine is primarily about building trusting relationships. How can you do this without knowing your doctor’s name?