Issue #23

Being a surgeon, I have the rare and fortunate window into people's minds as they are making the most critical (literally life and death) decisions of their lives.

Most of the time, I am trying my best to help them make a wise decision, but around the beginning of a new year, I become quite reflective.

So with a warm cup of coffee and some jazz in the background, I started making a list of things I learnt over the past year about human behaviour and decision making.

What Patients Want

• Everyone wants a guarantee
• Patients like to have options and choose instead of trusting an expert to choose the best for them.
• Latest is 'bestest" is the dictum.
• People will choose cheap and easy over expensive and ideal

Decision-Making Patterns (my favourite..!!!)

• People make life-changing decisions with little to no background information
• Most people have lost the ability to think deeply and evaluate options—possibility vs certainty is the most difficult concept to grasp
• We fail to judge which event requires serious consideration and which is worthy of casual thought
• Suspicion can make you do stupid things

Knowledge & Education

• Most are already educated by Instagram before they see you
• Education and common sense are not directly correlated

Memory & Documentation

• Most don't remember who did their surgery
• Very few people preserve paperwork

Treatment Preferences

• People delay surgery as much as possible, even at the cost of trying inferior treatment that gives false hopes
• Patients find false hopes quite comforting
• While most patients are scared of surgery, some insist upon getting operated on, thinking it's a permanent solution
• Patients will overthink their symptoms and request unnecessary treatment

Trust & Dynamics

• Poor patients trust their doctor more than rich patients
• Husbands still decide the plan for many female patients

Priorities

• Most people are more concerned about their diet than anything else.

My conclusion is: Humans are emotional decision-makers pretending to be rational.

Here are a few questions that help me understand people when their actions don't make sense.

• Do I recognise when someone needs hope, not just facts?
• Do I understand why they might avoid the "ideal" choice?
• Am I listening to the fear behind their questions?
• Am I building trust or just providing information?
• Do I recognise when optimism is serving as a coping mechanism?

What do you think?

Awaiting your reply.

Cheers,

Dr. Vishal.

What worries you most about the future? Career stagnation Burnout Financial insecurity Regret over choices Losing personal time