Body Language and Doctor-Patient Communication

Ed Rabinowitz
Published on Sep 08, 2008
Physicians are trained to heal the body, but often…

What’s the rush?
Matt Eventoff, a partner in Princeton Public Speaking (www.ppsassociates.com), says that one of the “biggest sins” he observes is that physicians often rush into an examination room, look at the patient’s chart, make less than 2 minutes of eye contact with the patient, then look back at the chart before beginning the examination. “It’s the hurried pace, lack of a smile,” says Eventoff. “It’s the look of, you’re taking my time and there’s something else I have to get to. Physicians don’t intentionally send that message, but that’s what’s coming through.”

Eventoff says the problem stems from physicians too often not putting themselves in the patient’s shoes. He suggests physicians take a moment before entering an examination room and ask themselves, if I were sitting on the other end of this table and knew nothing, how would this look or sound to me? How would this make me feel?

Ed Rabinowitz is a veteran healthcare writer and reporter. He welcomes comments at edwardr@frontiernet.net.

http://www.hcplive.com/pfnlive/in-depth-for-doctors/communication