Expectations

A week ago I went to my first aerial yoga class. I am not a petite flower, but I had a expectation that I should be able to knock this out since I had done yoga before! I went to the class and promptly had my backside to me! What I failed to relay to the instructor was that I was not hydrated well, had started my cycle the day before, and had had a rough time just even getting to the class...but I had a expectation that the instructor would lead me to the point of feeling like a graceful butterfly in that aerial sling...cute right?!!

Dr Peter Fox & I posted a video on my Harborview Health & Wellness Facebook business page where we discussed expectations that both healthcare providers & clients/patients have.

Often we found that clients had the expectation(s) that healthcare providers could magically resolve their problem/pain/discomfort in A VISIT. Then often reveal information vital to delivering accurate care that they had not placed on their intake form. Granted sometimes I take forms do not pose some questions that lead to remembering incidents or happenings. Yet sometimes clients come in with high expectations...and sometimes it is due to healthcare providers pitch/marketing.

As a healthcare provider, we have these equally high expectations that since the client came IN, they will as if by magic quit behavior that is harmful to their body and correct it...and of course stay on track! Isn’t that cute?? Why is there any surprise when a client shows up again with little to no change? Sometimes healthcare providers fail to educate or simply hand over Googled information with little explanation.

How can we manage these expectations?? How do we come to a middle ground where we feel that providers are delivering care worth the cost of said care, and clients will value what is “prescribed”?