I heard recently that research has shown the average doctor in their training will learn 13000 new words – in other words another complete language.
There is little wonder doctors are not always the most skilled communicators – perhaps patients simply do not always understand the language.
I guess doctors who really do communicate well are those that can have empathy with their patients and find a common language.
I also heard that patients will make 7 impressions of the doctor in the first 11 seconds of a consultation – little wonder the need for doctors to be in touch with their communication skills is becoming more and more of an issue for the medical profession.
Apparently in America, doctors can be paid up to £2000 for attending a communication skills course – simply because litigation often has a root cause of poor communication. American Medical Insurance Companies obviously feel £2000 per doctor per course is good value to prevent doctors being sued.
Then I heard the story of the Australian lady who had surgery that went badly wrong and she wanted to sue the Surgeon in the hospital.
As the court case approached, the Barrister informed the patient that in fact it was the fault of the family doctor (GP) and not the specialist in the hospital as first thought.
The patient withdrew her complaint saying “I don’t want to sue my own family doctor – I like him”
So what is the moral in all this? …
Doctors who care for people with kindness usually don’t get sued... those with poor bedside manners may well get sued even if they are the most ‘technically’ skilled doctor in the world.
There is little wonder doctors are not always the most skilled communicators – perhaps patients simply do not always understand the language.
I guess doctors who really do communicate well are those that can have empathy with their patients and find a common language.
I also heard that patients will make 7 impressions of the doctor in the first 11 seconds of a consultation – little wonder the need for doctors to be in touch with their communication skills is becoming more and more of an issue for the medical profession.
Apparently in America, doctors can be paid up to £2000 for attending a communication skills course – simply because litigation often has a root cause of poor communication. American Medical Insurance Companies obviously feel £2000 per doctor per course is good value to prevent doctors being sued.
Then I heard the story of the Australian lady who had surgery that went badly wrong and she wanted to sue the Surgeon in the hospital.
As the court case approached, the Barrister informed the patient that in fact it was the fault of the family doctor (GP) and not the specialist in the hospital as first thought.
The patient withdrew her complaint saying “I don’t want to sue my own family doctor – I like him”
So what is the moral in all this? …
Doctors who care for people with kindness usually don’t get sued... those with poor bedside manners may well get sued even if they are the most ‘technically’ skilled doctor in the world.
1 comment:
This is an excellent post. It speaks well to the importance of customer service and building relationships. Thanks!
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