To wish my GP would stop looking at her computer screen during appointments

[Canvas28]

Anyone else experienced this?

Just look the person you're speak to in the eyes and give them your attention. It's only for a minute or two.

She is sat there facing away from me, looking at the computer, sometimes starts filling in my notes after a minute.

I have severe postnatal depression so have to discuss my symptoms every two weeks. It's not the best speaking to the side of someone's head!

AIBU?

being 'socially akward doesn't excuse a dr not looking at the patient at all.
that's what we are on about.

A couple of things you can do. First, use silence. We're all 'trained' socially to speak within a certain amount of time after the previous person. If you don't say anything (and it will feel really awkward!), then your GP will naturally look at you, out of surprise.

Then, you can say something like 'I really need you to look at me when I'm speaking, please'. And then say, succinctly why you're there and what the problem is. After that you do need to allow them to face their computer to take notes/look stuff up.

You don't have to be rude, but you do need to be assertive.

The doctor is no more important than you (in fact, you can argue that you are more important than the doctor!), and you need to feel heard. And being heard is as much about making eye contact as listening to the words you're saying.

Why my GP is always late

Most GPs I know only have 10 minutes to see a patient, most nurse practitioners have 15 minutes.

It's a shame that this GP is always looking at the computer but I guess the pressures in the system,is to blame.

It annoys me. If they are looking at my notes it will tell them I have a hearing loss & rely on lipreading. I have to tell people that all the time, I thought GPs would be more aware than most people but even after I have told them some still talk to the screen. It takes longer as I have to ask them to repeat everything. Audiology staff are way better though

The point is they are supposed to be a doctor, I.e know what is wrong without searching on the internet for answers

A GP cannot possibly know everything about every condition that might come in through the door, especially since things are constantly changing.

perhaps she has her own reasons for being socially awkward? being a doctor doesn't make you immune to anxiety and similar things.

If a doctor is too socially awkward to look at a patient, they are in the wrong job. How can they accurately diagnose without looking? There are all sorts of physical symptoms that a patient may not have noticed (slight yellowing of the eyes, for example) or thought unrelated to their problems so not mentioned, that a doctor would notice.

I'm sorry - I don't care how busy they are. OP has a 20 minute slot and is asked to come back frequently for PND. It is NOT hard to look at someone and listen. You don't need to detail every single word she says. You need to listen to her. Your diagnosis or assessment or care will be entirely useless if you aren't actively listening (because truthfully, would any of you disclose your deepest thoughts or the depths of your despair to someone who isn't actually listening)

I've worked for the NHS for 15 years, yes lots of it is amazing but some of it isn't good enough - let's stop pretending everyone who works for the NHS is a perfect angel. Some of them aren't, some don't provide good enough care. We should be able to talk about this.

oP I hope you're ok? Have they referred you on for any talking therapy?

I hate it when they do this. My own GP is pretty good in this respect,but a few years ago I had a rheumatology consultant who started to piss me right off. He would ask me a question (which he had probably already asked me on several previous appointments) and I would start to answer,but he was so busy staring at his computer screen and tapping on the keyboard that he would constantly interrupt me before I had finished answering. At one appointment,when he'd done it for the about the fourth time,I stopped speaking,took a deep breath and said 'If you would actually let me finish answering one question before dashing onto the next,it would probably be of benefit to both of us'. Cue shocked silence for 5 seconds. Then,he actually apologised! He said ''Sorry,I have so many patients to see in such a short amount of time,I rush on in an attempt to fit it all in'. Things were much better from then on.

The point is they are supposed to be a doctor, I.e know what is wrong without searching on the internet for answers. Otherwise what is the point of going to see them?
Because they dont know every single thing??
I have something my gp does not know about.

I think you're very lucky you have 20minutes! Everywhere I've been to has always been 10!
I think yabu, they need to write up notes. If you leave it till after the app then you get more people moaning their app was even later...

They're intelligent people that shouldn't miss anything major
Yes however do you expect them to remember everything for every person?
They're not robots!

My Gp is very good at face to face contact but the Consultant at the hospital well he is one ignorant so and so!
Stares at the screen all the time and then walks out of the room mid sentence, then in pops a nurse to usher you out!...
Just bloody rude IMO! Luckily I haven't been able to get to any more appointments with the arrogant plonker as I've been too ill to leave the house!

I have had an unusually high number of ailments this year and multiple a hospital visits.

My GP spends most of the consultation looking at the screen and I don't understand why. He's not typing and obviously not reading because he has no knowledge/memory of anything I've ever been in to see him about. He's not Googling either as he tells me to Google.

I was in hospital last week and the practitioner said at the start that she'd be typing as we talk but that she was listening. I didn't mind this as she was upfront about it and was interacting with me.