Reply to Do Physicians judge patients based on what they wear? Designer Bags? Casual Clothing?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I will no longer disclose to these people what my profession is, unless I determine it’s pertinent to my treatment.

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I work with med students. One of the things they are taught (and then tested on) is to get the occupation of the patient. It's supposed to be in their history-taking. For better or for worse, they are literally taught this. [/quote]
Sure! But why exactly, especially if it’s not physical labor?[/quote]

PP here. One, to assess risks (one of the big ones that isn't physical labor is elementary school teachers -- you don't even need to ask them if they have had any sick contacts, you can just assume they have--they are working in a big cesspool of germs, lol; another occupational hazard is lots of travel). Second, they ask occupation because they are taught that conversations regarding diagnosis, treatment, etc, should look different depending on the education level/profession of the patient. But clearly it's not a perfect (or even all that useful?) proxy for the patient's ability to understand medical information. Personally, I think any decent doctor should be able to ascertain that, at least somewhat, just having taken a history without needing to ask about someone's job. But I don't write the curriculum. 
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