The Most Powerful Tool in Medicine with Dr. Faler
Video Transcription
Dave: Most doctors, it seems these days rush through their appointments. Why do you believe listening is the most powerful tool that you have in your practice?
Dr. Philip Faler: Well, Dave, I think early on in my career, I had a lot of mentors, older docs, and one of the wisest things any of them ever told me was, “Nobody knows what’s wrong with your patient except your patient.” Now I can interpret what they tell me, but the patient has all the information. And so he told me, he said, “Close your mouth and open your ears and you’ll do well.” And I always carry that with me. So I like to get in a very relaxed, present state before I see patients, and I like to really listen to what they have to say because they’re going to tell me what’s wrong. Nobody else can tell me what’s wrong, only the patient.
Dave: Can you share a story where listening completely changed the outcome for that patient?
Dr. Philip Faler: I can remember a case maybe seven or eight years ago, it was about a seventy-year-old woman and she came in for something on her leg, a rash or skin affliction. And as she talked, I started to think, “Hey, I need to screen this woman’s blood sugar.” She was telling me about these different things that she was experiencing and started to ask her a little bit about nutrition and just let her talk. And it turned out she had very undiagnosed diabetes with a hemoglobin A1C of 14 and seven is where it starts to get bad, 5.2 is good. And three months later, her hemoglobin A1C was like a 6.8, and it was because I didn’t just see the rash, “You’re here for the rash, let’s address the rash.” That I was able to catch that for her.
Dave: So when you’re talking to them, what is it about this that makes them feel comfortable to open up?
Dr. Philip Faler: Part of it I would say is I meet patients where they are. I don’t see myself as anything greater than anyone else, not in any aspect of my life. And I meet patients, whoever they are, right where they are, and I’m just there to genuinely listen and be helpful
Dave: And they feel safe in this environment?
Dr. Philip Faler: Yeah.
Dave: Like, “Hey, we’re just talking and you’re a friend, and you probably have some answers for me.”
Dr. Philip Faler: Yeah.
Dave: What do you think that most doctors miss when they don’t slow down and they kind of just go through patient after patient like every 15, 20 minutes?
Dr. Philip Faler: Yeah. What do I think they miss? Well, in their defense, that’s where my brain went to, in their defense, your standard operating family practice doc is burdened with, “You’ve got to see 24 patients today coming down the pipe from corporate.” Or from wherever. And many of them would love to sit down and take more time, but they don’t get to, and they’re missing getting to address the whole patient, getting to build a genuine relationship where they can build trust with their patient. Even as much as they might want to be doing that, they’re pressed very hard to generate numbers. And I think the part that they miss is building that relationship with their patient. And if you ask them, they would say that they not only missed it, but they miss it, and they wish that they were able to do that because they went into medicine because of that.
Dave: Yeah. So how do your patients respond when they recognize that you are slowing down and you are listening to them and not just going, “Oh, I have something for this problem here.”?
Dr. Philip Faler: I think often it makes them feel very comfortable. It makes them feel very safe, and it makes them willing to share and know that there’s no judgment and they can tell me they’re not eating well or they’ve stopped exercising or this, that, or the other thing is going wrong in their life. And they can share that with me knowing that there’s no judgment and that I’m just here to help find some solutions for them. And if they’re not ready to make the changes, this is a big piece. If they’re not ready to make those changes, maybe they’re not ready to start exercising four or five days a week, I’m okay with that. I’m not going to judge them, I’m not going to… I’ll push them a little bit and say, “Hey, that sure would make a big difference. I think that would really help.” But I get the human condition. Sometimes it’s not time for them to do that just then, it’s time for them to start exercising one day a week and feel that accomplishment and maybe grow from there.
Dave: If you want to be heard by a doctor who actually listens to you and takes the time, Dr. Faler offers free consultations at AntiAgingNorthwest.com.