While health care is full of very talented and dedicated people, they are working extremely hard in systems that are, quite frankly, completely broken. Even worse, these wildly talented people are not being effectively used to fix the problems.

Patients like Robert make clear that the very personal meaning patients find in their illnesses can be profoundly empowering. All too often, however, health care does not allow patients to explore the personal significance of their diseases.

Here are the two most common issues that have come up during conversations that only break the surface of what we as physicians can work on when it comes to enhancing the relationship between nurses and doctors.

There is no numeric substitute for direct and clear communication between a doctor and patient. That said, making sense of medical statistics can go a long way in helping a patient.

How much easier it is to imply that it must be "all in the patient's head," rather than concede it is knowledge that isn't yet in ours! How easy, and how wrong.