Reducing Risk By Improving Listening
by Rebecca Shafir
“Five minutes spent listening to the patient can save five hours of deposition time.”
- Anonymous lawyer
Most patients would agree that a doctor who listens mindfully is one who:
Examples of poor listening that can result in malpractice claims when :
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Patients may perceive a lack of caring and empathy by the physician’s lack of eye contact or attentive silence, frequent interruptions, one hand on the doorknob, finishing their sentences for them, looking at their watch, not responding to feelings associated with their symptoms, not returning their phone calls e-mails, etc.
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There was inadequate informed consent (either a discussion never took place or the patient was inadequately informed of recommended procedure risks and benefits, provider identity, or alternative treatments including their risks and benefits).
How much communication is enough?
Without answers to these eight basic questions, and any others the patient might ask, dissatisfaction can lead to needless lawsuits:
Research: Some points to ponder
94% of patients seek good communication skills from their physicians
(AM News December 1996 public opinion poll)
JAMA 12/22/99 published a study from the Univ. of Washington concluded that 9 out of 10 decisions made between doctors and patients failed to include enough info to allow patients to make informed treatment decisions.
British cancer Research Campaign, European Journal of Cancer 12/22/99 reported that patients typically remember just over 50% of the info they receive from the doctor about their diagnosis and treatment. But this figure drops to 25% for cancer patients as anxiety levels are higher, which reduces their ability to remember details.
JAMA 1999 study found that average time to interruption by the physician was 23 seconds.
(See an interesting article in 1999 Journal of Clinical Oncology titled, “Can Forty Seconds of Compassion Reduce Patient Anxiety?”)
71% of patients in a 1994 study stated that poor relationships as the cause of their malpractice claims.
1997 study by Dr. Wendy Levinson of University of Chicago indicated that primary care physicians who had never had a malpractice suit brought against them spent 18.3 minutes vs. 15 minutes per patient visit.
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