<—— Hua Tuo. Now he was a GREAT physician.
– Now that I’ve discussed how to find a legitimate (read: non-lethal) Chinese medicine physician – I’d like to get to my passion, what sets apart the merely legitimate physicians from the ones who are truly great or, if they are new to the profession, on their way to greatness. The following characteristics embodied in a doctor represent the template of the highest that Chinese medicine – and perhaps medicine in general – has to offer.
1. She has an unflinching dedication to lifelong scholarship. This is absolutely, positively ESSENTIAL. A good doctor is a good student (the reverse is not always true). Several thousand years of the practice of Chinese medicine have resulted in an avalanche of information available and one could spend a lifetime investigating only a tiny portion of that information. Add to that the fact that for CM doctors the true teachers are human beings and the rest of nature (both endlessly transforming) and you have a recipe for a life filled with study. Knowing more doesn’t guarantee they will be able to treat more effectively, but it lays the foundation.
2. She has excellent clinical abilities. This starts with the first handshake in your first meeting with her. Every moment of the patient-doctor relationship has the potential to be therapeutic and a great physician knows this. This also includes her ability to diagnose, treat and follow up. Combine this with #1 above and you should also have a doctor who is constantly at work improving their clinical prowess. How will you know if your doctor possesses this trait? Well, partly by word of mouth. But, you can also look into the depth of the clinical portion of their education. Failing that, just see how she interacts with you when you first meet. Does she handle herself well? Does she seem to be observing you in a diagnostic manner? Do you feel comfortable with her? Remember – she is probably going to be sticking needles into you – so you should be pretty comfy with her.
3. He is familiar with other systems, particularly Western medicine. I don’t think a great doctor of any tradition can be a jack-of-all-trades. What I mean is that every medical tradition (particularly Chinese medicine) is so deep and broad that a lifetime cannot exhaust its secrets. But at the same time, a basic familiarity with other systems – particularly Western medicine in all its youthful exuberance – shows a willingness to understand the body from many angles. It also makes it more likely that they will have built up a referral network that can be helpful if you use your CM physician as your primary care physician. Though CM doctors are not licensed to be primary care physicians in most states, many people use them that way. If you plan to, or even if you don’t, knowing that your doctor probably knows an oncologist or dermatologists can be a great comfort. To find this out, ask the doctor directly. Ask him if he is familiar with Western medicine (or whatever system you are interested in) and to what extent he is familiar with it. If you’re not comfortable with that direct approach, try again checking the website of the school he went to and investigate.
4. He will understand the Classical basis of the medicine. Chinese medicine is a tradition based on… well, tradition. In a youth and future obsessed culture this can seem a little quaint. But Chinese medicine functions best when it takes seriously the proposition that the past holds vast wisdom. Being well acquainted with the foundational texts of Chinese medicine, being engaged in the process of understanding what they mean and being capable in the classical diagnostic procedures and treatment principles is utterly essential to utilizing the true power of Chinese medicine. Any attempt to avoid this is dishonest at best and dangerous at worst.
5. She will have an impeccable personal character. I do not believe you can separate the medicine from the (wo)man. This is not an entirely popular opinion. I’m not saying that you couldn’t get a decent treatment from a doctor who, say, lies to her wife and cheats her business partners. But we’re talking about greatness, here, and Chinese medicine is deeply rooted in ethical bases of behavior – particularly those elements of CM that come from Confucian traditions. A good CM physician will be honest, forthright, ultimately gentle and in every way the picture of ethical behavior. At the least, they will be striving in this direction. Think: do you really want to be treated by someone who is anything else? There is of course, no obvious way to determine your doctor’s “score” in this department. But watch for the same cues you would watch for in anyone, and pay attention to word-of-mouth reports. Most of all, trust your gut.
6. She will have a reasonable pricing structure and be reasonably skilled in basic business. I feel that developing a pricing structure that is both fair and yet allows the physician to make a living shows that the doctor cares about the medicine. No one is served by either astronomical prices on the one hand or (much more common among CM physicians) disturbingly low prices on the other. Doctors on the latter side of the equation are often overworked and sometimes fail to thrive in business, ultimately robbing patients of their skills and expertise.
7. He will have an approachable manner and willingness to answer questions and concerns. One of the things I always found frustrating about my Western primary care physician was his unwillingness to discuss with me the questions and concerns I had. Often, I would be brushed off with a casual explanation of a problem, even when I demonstrated that I knew a fair bit about the subject and simply needed clarification or a slightly more advanced understanding. I understand that often this attitude is due to the high time pressure so many PCPs are under, but I also think it is a flaw in the Western medical system and the education M.D.s receive. I feel it is even more vital in Chinese medicine that doctors are willing to discuss questions the patient has because there is no latent knowledge about the system in Western culture. Patients may have questions about the theory behind a treatment or diagnostic procedure, they may have concerns about herb-drug interactions, they may want to discuss lifestyle options that would assist or hinder their treatment… all of these questions should be addressed in a compassionate manner.
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Although some of these qualities are going to be a little difficult for a patient to assess without some time to get to know the doctor, they can still act as guidelines as your relationship with your CM physician progresses. I also believe this list can serve as a skeleton for students seeking to learn Chinese medicine. We have to learn the points, the herbs, the theory and diagnostic skills – all of those are vital. But it’s traits like those listed above that separate an OK doctor from an excellent one. Let’s all strive to be the latter.
e
Tags: Character
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Spot on across the board. The needle is just the access point, the key being inserted into the lock. When a patient is treated by a DOM he is being directly affected by the person. That direct contact can have broad-ranging effects, just one of the reasons treatment can differ from doc to doc. You really are being treated by a PERSON in CM and not a system or method.
Completely agreed. I think you would only have to be treated by a few separate docs to get the feeling for the truth of this. Different docs using the same “system” feel completely different when they treat. It’s beyond technique, beyond knowledge – it’s about the energetic quality of that person and their willingness/ability to be there with you.
Thanks for your comment.
Eric
Hi Eric,
while the ideals that you suggest are certainly laudable (they’re ideals, right) I don’t really understand why the business skills have to be part of the equation.
I know, we all have to survive but I don’t think being able to make money is what qualifies a good therapist. I have met with some top doctors in China that declined bigger and better houses (and higher salaries) so they could keep on living on their concrete cube somewhere on the third floor. Some of those doctors were seeing 35 patients in a morning and were highly respected among their colleagues.
Perhaps the business skills are more a characteristic of the “great western chinese medicine physician”. And even then there may be many personal differences. I remember reading an article on Acupuncture Today in which a woman professed her fondness of dollars. It caused quite a stir. Then there is the working class acupuncture movement. To each his own, I guess.
Tom,
Basic business skills are, of course, relative. In the US and most Western States, especially, a person who fails to meet their basic needs is probably lacking some business knowledge, skill, or acumen. This will limit their ability to see patients, in most cases.
Every CM doctor I know who has failed to grasp basic principles of business struggles. In different countries, in different circumstances, the skills required are different. For each person, what is required to “make a living” changes. A person need only maintain the minimum skill necessary to fit the bill as I’ve laid it out above.
I certainly have no “love of dollars.” Many of the physicians I know who have basic business skills and charge what they are worth within their socio-economic reality have no “love of dollars.” They do have a love of their health, their sanity, and their medicine. These physicians serve as my model.
Also – the working class acupuncture model is great, and totally fits the bill. These folks definitely had a basic grasp of business to make a low-cost model viable. The point is simply to know enough about business to, at least, thrive personally. What that means to each individual is surely up to them.
Thanks for your comment!
Eric
“A good doctor is a good student (the reverse is not always true)” – that’s well said. And it’s true for just any profession, not just medicine.
These are all great points. It’s probably implied somewhere, but I always recommend practitioners trained in the herbal tradition as well (as opposed to just acupuncture). Sense of humor helps a good bit too, both the patients and the practitioner, I’m sure this would be covered under #5, personal character.
As far as the basic business acumen, this is important too. There are only so many Zig Ziglar’s out there, and that’s ok, but just as we see signs & symptoms as part of a bigger pattern, an ineptitude in business points not only to an ineptitude at business, but a disbalance in some aspect of the practitioner that will undoubtedly affect the patient(s) somewhere along the line, even if it is not immediate. We don’t dismiss when a patient dissmisively reports “occasional” temper problems and dry red eyes “every once in a while.” In an effort to correctly diagnose a Liver Yang disbalance which, if left untreated, we know could easily progress to a more serious disease, we pay close attention to these symptoms, even if they’re not the chief complaint and may seem unrelated to the patient.
A sound business acumen is analogous to this. We may not be selling widgets, but an occasional examination into this aspect of of ourselves is worthwhile especially within the greater context of our health and our practice.
Hey Eric, thanks for your great posts. There was one typo I noticed though, it was at the very beginning–the guy in the picture is named “Hua Tuo” 華陀, you have him spelled “Hua Tou” 滑頭, which means “cunning”, now it makes a huge difference!
:)
Steven,
Oops – if I made that mistake, I sure didn’t mean to. I’ll check on it and fix it tomorrow! :)
Eric
An Excellent blog! The internet would be a better place if people could write as well as you. May your tribe increase!
This is a great article, though I do agree with some of the comments regarding the business aspects. Sure, if a practitioner is overzealous when it comes to finances, this is a negative attribute and may even transfer to the patient, but I think that is a rare quality among TCM practitioners. Most of us care about the well being of the patient, first and foremost.
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