To All Parents: Ask!

Whenever a physician approaches your child for the first time, be sure to ask him or her if he or she has read your child’s chart (they may say “yes” even if they haven’t) and ask them approximately how long they spent reviewing the chart. This second question is more difficult for them to dodge, and their speech and body language will convey whether they are telling the truth. You might probe further and ask “What is your professional opinion of how Johnnie’s most recent procedure will impact your work today?”

Why is this important? In my experience, doctors at Seattle Children's Hospital walk in at least half the time without having even opened the patient’s chart. This is somewhat easier for me to diagnose because my daughter’s name – Hunter – leads to the assumption she is a boy and they will refer to her as “him.” Typically the top page in the chart, however, is a color-coded (pink or blue) page with big boldface letters that say “BOY” or “GIRL”. I have had several physicians admit after these queries that they had not opened the chart at all, yet were already practicing medicine on my daughter.

While gender is arguably not a relevant factor for some procedures, parents not trained in medicine are not in a position to know when it is or is not an important piece of information and should demand that the physician know this basic piece of data about the child. But more importantly we should demand that physicians have gone beyond gender determination and have read enough of the patient history to competently perform the procedure.

I need your help to fix this. Email me at fred@fredwhittlesey.com. Thank you!