"The average patient visiting a doctor in the United States gets 22 seconds for his initial statement, then the doctor takes the lead."
A new twist on an old story. Even those of us who try to be good at this .. sometimes fall short. If I catch myself starting to interrupt … I bite my tongue (literally) to remind myself to keep quiet.
On Moday nights .. I sometimes volunteer at a local homeless shelter. Last night I was there with a few medical students. It's a good experience .. and I enjoy teaching the students while providing a service to the clients in teh shelter. As one of the students was interviewing a patient .. I noticed how often the student interrupted the patient. Active listening is clearly a skill that we need to focus on more in medical school.
