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Iatrogenic disease - how to prevent it?

A visit to a medical institution or clinic sometimes ends for the patient with the acquisition of a fairly common disease - an iatrogenic disease. Translated from the ancient Greek "iatrogenic" means - "generated by a doctor." What a strange disease "iatrogenic" that its acquisition is directly related to the participation of medical personnel.

The essence of the acquisition of an iatrogenic disease lies in the violation of professional ethics and causing psychological trauma to the patient at the time of his treatment, regardless of the clinic of the current disease.

What can cause the development of an iatrogenic disease:

An ambiguous phrase said by a healthcare professional that is misunderstood by the patient;
Insufficient awareness of the patient about his illness and the aggravation of the course of this disease in spite of the treatment due to the patient's suspiciousness and the tactlessness of the medical staff;
Instilling in the patient the thoughts that, due to his incurable disease, he has no chance of recovery.

An iatrogenic disease is akin to a mental disorder, when impressionability, mixed with fear, takes on the character of psychotrauma and prevents the patient from thinking sanely. This gives rise to neurotic disorders and depressive states. And, as you know, the psychological attitude of the patient plays a very important role in the treatment of any disease, which increases the level of his confidence in medical advice and his consent to strictly follow medical procedures in order to save his own health.

The psychological atmosphere of a medical institution should be designed not only for medical support of the patient, but also for his moral support, instilling confidence in the success of the treatment of even potentially incurable diseases. This does not mean that the medical staff should promise the patient recovery even in the most hopeless cases, but the health worker should demonstrate to the patient an understanding of the complexity of the patient's condition and try to instill confidence in the correct struggle of the latter for his health. For example, the patient's dissatisfaction in response to medical procedures and manipulations in case of their unsuccessful treatment, is extinguished not by an answer in the style: “What did you expect, because you have an incurable disease - we do what we can!”, But by the phrase: “We are trying to get you out of the disease with all the means at our disposal,

No one inspires hope for a successful treatment in a patient as much as the medical staff with their extensive knowledge of a particular disease. In order for a sick patient not to "give up" and stop fighting the disease for his life, he needs to be given the moral opportunity to hold on until, perhaps, new discoveries are made in the treatment of this disease, but not to "beat off" his desire to fight the disease.

In turn, it is important for the patient not to fall into a state of hopelessness and not to acquire an iatrogenic disease in addition to an already existing disease with the ambiguously said phrase of the physician. To do this, you need to ask the attending or consulting doctor as many times as necessary to understand the problem of your current illness.

In a broad sense, an iatrogenic disease is not only a consequence of a violation of medical ethics, but also a consequence of unsuccessful medical manipulations, postoperative or drug complications, hospital infections - in general, all the negative consequences of disease treatment associated with the participation of medical personnel and medical interventions.

In order not to cause additional damage to the patient, the medical staff must keep the patient in conditions of psychological comfort, and themselves within the framework of the medical technological process.