Lack of understanding and communication (Shengzhou Qiu

L A C K O F U N D E R S T A N D I N G A N D C O M M U N I C A T I O N

Shengzhou Qiu (BSPS student)

A Global Issue

In China, 66% of the medical doctors who work in clinical settings claim that they have experienced medical disputes and over 30% of the cases include a certain level of violence, according to the “White paper of Chinese medical doctor profession 2018”. In 2015, 115,000 cases of medical approximately disputes were recorded. In the US, approximately 17,000 malpractice cases are filed each year. All of that is caused by lack of understanding and communication.

Understanding the Issue

Many factors including communication problems, organizational structure, role disputes, lack of resources, misunderstandings, lack of professional commitment, can cause the conflict between patient and doctor.

In particular, the population density in China’ s big city is extremely high. The population density of Beijing is 1,312 people per square kilometer and for Shanghai’ s most populated district Hongkou it’ s 33,816 people per square kilometer. In Shanghai, a primary doctor only spends 8 minute on a patient on average. The lack of time spent to communicate with patients and help them understand the treatment they’ re having is the main reason for these medical disputes. Usually in medical disputes doctors and patients’ family are affected and are in unequal positions. In many cases, doctors are facing violence and even death threats. For example, on January 20, 2020, three medical staff were stabbed and one patient was injured at Beijing Chao-yang Hospital by a patient named Zhenguo Cui. Fortunately, no victim was killed. Cui was not satisfied with the effect of his eye treatment and decided to attack the medical team in retaliation. Cui was sentenced death penalty with a two year reprieve.

My opinion

Efforts in medical system reform and doctor’ s professional training are required to help improve this situation. More medical staff are needed to reduce the stress doctors are facing and doctors need to be trained to communicate with patients and their family effectively to avoid medical disputes. Also people are promoting the education of patients about how to process the information given by doctors online. This can also be helpful for the patients to have more access to knowledge about medical procedures and prevent them from misunderstanding.

References:

Wu, Y., Jiang, F., Ma, J., Tang, Y., Wang, M. and Liu, Y., 2021. Experience of Medical Disputes, Medical Disturbances, Verbal and Physical Violence, and Burnout Among Physicians in China. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. He, A. J., & Qian, J. (2016). Explaining medical disputes in Chinese public HOSPITALS: The doctor–patient relationship and its implications for health policy reforms. Health Economics, Policy and Law, 11(4), 359-378. doi:10.1017/s1744133116000128 中国医师执业状况⽩⽪书 2018(White paper of Chinese medical doctor profession 2018)：超6成医⽣发⽣过医疗 纠纷. https://health.huanqiu.com/article/9CaKrnK6irf. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/how-health-disparities-are-shaping-the-impact-of-covid-19.html