How does post-graduate training sometimes produce pompous doctor entitlement that backfires with patients?
By creating an air of superiority that the doctor wears subtly into patient interactions, where it gets registered immediately and damages the relationship. The pattern is recognizable across the profession. A doctor invests years and substantial money in advanced training. The training is real, the credentials are earned, and the clinical skill is genuine. The doctor begins to feel that the credentials justify a certain superior posture toward patients, peers, and team. They start dropping credentials into conversations where they do not belong. They wear visible disappointment when patients do not recognize their professional letters. They treat the team with subtle condescension. Patients pick up the signal in seconds. The trust that the credentials should support gets undermined by the credentialed personality. Patients prefer competent dentists who treat them with respect over more credentialed dentists who treat them as lucky to be seen. The entitlement is self-defeating. Doctors who recognize the trap and stay grounded despite their training get the full benefit of the credentials. Doctors who let the training go to their heads get less benefit than they would have gotten without the credentials at all.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.
