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When Doctors And Patients Speak Different Languages

I can’t say that I enjoy the patient encounter as much when it involves a translator. There’s just something about communicating through a third party that changes the experience. But there are some things you can do as a provider to bridge the language gap:

Look. Even thought the translator is doing the talking, look at the patient just as if you are asking the question yourself. There’s a tendency to let the translator act as a surrogate with respect to eye contact and visual feedback.

Smile. A smile doesn’t need translation. It conveys very clearly that have a sincere interest in making a connection.

Touch. I never leave the exam room without some type of sincere physical contact. A firm handshake or a hand on the shoulder go a long way in closing the language barrier.

Say something funny. Patients don’t expect jokes to come through a translator. And there’s nothing better than watching a silly, lighthearted remark make its way into another language. It’s powerful and fun.

It’s important to think about how we can recreate the elements of a one-on-one dialog. What do you do to make a connection beyond spoken language?

*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*

10 New Year’s Resolutions For Doctors And Patients

#1 Doctor: Resolve to let patients speak without interruption and describe their symptoms.
Patient: Resolve to focus on the problem I am seeing the doctor about and not come with a list of 10 complaints for a 15-minute office visit.

#2 Doctor: Resolve to keep a pleasant tone of voice when answering night and weekend phone calls from the answering service, patients, or nurses.
Patient: Resolve to get my prescriptions filled during office hours, not forget my medications while traveling, and to use night and weekend phone calls for emergencies only.

#3 Doctor: Resolve to exercise a minimum of four times a week for better health.
Patient: Ditto.

#4 Doctor: Resolve to train my staff and model excellent customer service for patients.
Patient: Resolve to understand that getting an instant referral, prescription, note for jury duty, or letter to my insurance company from my doctor is not my God-given right and I will stop [complaining] if it doesn’t happen the day I request it. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*

Doctor-Patient Relationship Humanized By Touch

I’ve written previously that many doctors are finding the physical exam obsolete, and are favoring more technologically-advanced, and expensive, tests. In fact, I alluded to traditional physical exam advocates as “arguing for staying with a horse and buggy when cars are rapidly becoming available.”

In a recent piece from the New York Times, internist Danielle Ofri says we need to look past the lack of evidence supporting the physical exam. The benefits of touching the patient, and listening to his heart and lungs, cannot be quantitatively measured:

Does the physical exam serve any other purpose? The doctor-patient relationship is fundamentally different from, say, the accountant-client relationship. The laying on of hands sets medical practitioners apart from their counterparts in the business world. Despite the inroads of evidence-based medicine, M.R.I.s, angiograms and PET scanners, there is clearly something special, perhaps even healing, about touch. There is a warmth of connection that supersedes anything intellectual, and that connection goes both ways in the doctor-patient relationship.

Great point. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

Why Patients Are Unsure Of The Primary Care “Medical Home”

Say the words, “Patient-centered medical home,” and you’re bound to get a variety of opinions.

On this blog alone, there are a variety of guest pieces critical of the effort, saying it does not increase patient satisfaction, nor does it save money. And that’s not good news for its advocates, who are pinning primary care’s last hopes on the model.

Medical homes hit the mainstream media recently, with Pauline Chen focusing one of her recent, weekly New York Times columns to the issue. She discussed the results of a demonstration project, showing some positive results. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

Good Looks In Medicine: Does It Matter?

Handsome-Mechanic-Now-On-Duty-Sign-AdvertisementI found this sign while driving past a mechanic’s shop the other day. Of course, now I get it. How do women pick their mechanic? This sign explains it all. Just look for the “Handsome Mechanic ‘Now On Duty'” sign. I wonder if it works for doctors, too.

Be honest. If your doctor had exceptionally good-looking physical features by most people’s standards, would you be more likely or less likely to keep him or her as your doctor? Would you be more likely or less likely to think of them as highly intelligent? Would you be more likely or less likely to sue them when something goes wrong?

We know that babies respond to good-looking parents differently even as newborns. So why would we expect adults to respond to handsome mechanics and doctors any differently?

*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

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