They say that changes are inevitable. And though many doctors feel that many things in the medical landscape are not changing as fast as they should, some things are prone to make a transition. Here are three practices that ought to be outdated in the near-future.

1.Not putting what a drug treats on the label

It’s not uncommon for patients to get confused about what exactly a drug does, sometimes leading to a scenario in which they cease taking medicine thinking they have run out of it when it’s still with them. The simple solution to the dilemma is to put on the label what exactly the drug treats. On hindsight, this might look like an obvious idea.

2.Spending more time on paperwork than caring for the patients

Taking care of various documentation needs is something that many healthcare professionals grapple with- a problem that could be particularly big with Indian doctors who end up having to see an inordinate number of patients every day. But thanks to the advent of electronic medical documentation software, it’s slowly becoming better. And it’s logical to assume that given time, the time spent on paperwork could be negligible.

3.The advice that doctors shouldn’t say sorry

Though a genuinely stated apology is one of the most honest human expressions, doctors are often advised not to say, “I am sorry” to patients who come to harm under their care. The problem is that such an expression could be used against them in court. Even though the advice still holds in many hospitals, things have evolved to the point that training the staff on how exactly to acknowledge mistakes and apologize for them is a norm in many hospitals. The idea is that such acknowledgements could actually help bring down malpractice suits.

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