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The story of the doggie illustrates very clearly one important aspect
of communication skills that is not strongly emphasised at medical school.
Whilst a skills framework to interact with patients (and relatives) is
vital, it is personalising those skills to individual patients that makes
them most fruitful. One of the many challenges of dealing with patients of
all ages is rapidly judging the patient's relative understanding of the
situation, along with the language and tone that would make the
consultation most productive. Thus, interacting with patients is not
necessarily about being appropriate with them, but more about making this
interaction appropriate to them, in order to maximise the flow of
information between patient and doctor.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
25 April 2007
Gabriele Pollara
Foundation year 1 doctor
North Middlesex Hospital, Sterling Way, London, N18 1QX
Patient-tailored communication skills
The story of the doggie illustrates very clearly one important aspect
of communication skills that is not strongly emphasised at medical school.
Whilst a skills framework to interact with patients (and relatives) is
vital, it is personalising those skills to individual patients that makes
them most fruitful. One of the many challenges of dealing with patients of
all ages is rapidly judging the patient's relative understanding of the
situation, along with the language and tone that would make the
consultation most productive. Thus, interacting with patients is not
necessarily about being appropriate with them, but more about making this
interaction appropriate to them, in order to maximise the flow of
information between patient and doctor.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests