Doctor’s career path offers economic insight on patient choices

As a physician, a portion of your patients will smoke, avoid seatbelts or skip doses of medication. In those instances, patients are doing things that are not in their own best interest.

Rather than ask the obvious question—why do patients act against their own interests?—one physician is taking a different tack when it comes to such self-defeating behaviors.

“We will be much more effective at improving health behavior if we work with the irrational parts of our nature ... instead of ignoring them or fighting against them,” said David Asch, MD, MBA. “When it comes to health care, understanding our irrationality is just another tool in our tool box. And harnessing that irrationality, that maybe the most rational move of all.”

The full American Medical Association article can be viewed at this link.