Pearls of communication

This is a multi-authored book, and I thought it interesting that only five of the 12 authors are doctors. However, the non-doctor authors seem to have a good feel for the absolute importance of communication in the realm of medicine.

The book is divided into 66 short “chapters”, each of one to three pages. All the chapters deal, almost exclusively, with communication — all the way from patient–doctor communication to the importance of the office receptionist communicating with the patient, and how to handle yourself with the media.

It’s easy reading. The titles of each of the chapters tell almost the whole story, for example: “Hippocrates was right: treat people, not their disease” and “How non-verbal communication can give patients a sense of connectedness”. Other chapters include: “Thirty ways to make your practice more ‘patient-friendly’”, “Answering questions patients don’t ask”, “Making sure your language doesn’t mystify patients”, “Elevator etiquette: when is communication too effective?”, “Let’s hear it for sounder listening skills!” and “Strategies for not appearing rushed”.

Most of us doctors learn the importance of communication through experience but I do think that if you can pick up a titbit here and a shortcut there, each of these can save you time while improving the quality of medicine you practice. You can never know too much about how to handle complaints from a patient or how to deal with an angry patient, and there are a couple of good chapters on these problems, which all doctors face. The final eight chapters deal with minimising legal risks, and when living in a litigious society, you can’t know enough about how to avoid any pitfalls.

There are some “pearls” in every chapter of the book, and as I was reading, I did think that the reader could learn a lot in a short time by just leafing through the pages if these pearls were highlighted in some way within or at the end of each chapter.

Even though I have a special interest in patient–doctor communication, I found this book to be helpful, with some aspects I haven’t previously considered. The book would be of especial value to course directors in academic medical centres in gathering ideas for sessions on improving communication.

Edward C Rosenow IIIEmeritus Professor of Medicine Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, USA