Our doctor-patient communication book has established itself as the ultimate guide to patient communication for every doctor, wherever they practice and whatever their experience. Acclaimed for its conversational, light tone, and highly respected by many, our doctor's training book remains a key text for doctors in all settings and levels. This timely guide to patient-centered communication argues for greater clarity in describing health risks versus benefits of a range of drug regimens, procedures, and screening tests. As one of the best online medical books, it'll enhance your communication skills in clinical practice by reviewing the trend towards patient's involvement in their own care and detailing approaches physicians can use to prepare patients (and themselves) for collaborative decision-making based on meaningful knowledge and informed choices. Get this book now and learn how to improve the patient-physician relationship!

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Why doctor-patient

communication is so important?

One of the most important components of patient care is communication between a patient and a doctor. It involves effective communication with family, patients, as well as physicians, and other healthcare providers. Earlier, a medical professional was very well recognized for 3 Ts, that is, talk, touch, and treat. Here, talk means compassionate listening and talking; touch means a compassionate touch that involves a good clinical examination of the patient. During those times, the doctor prioritized talk and touch a lot until when fourth and fifth T came up, which meant tests and technology respectively.

 

As the professional is undergoing commercialization, the majority of doctors focus on treatment, technology, and tests, ignoring the most important aspects of touch and talk. This means effective doctor-patient communication has deteriorated of late. To deliver effective, high-quality, and safe patient care, doctors should use good communication skills. Some practices still prioritize doctor-patient communication, where communication training and skill development have been made an integral part of the curriculum of medical training programs.

 

In many countries, medical graduates aren’t generally given any specific training in communication skills. There’s informal learning as certain elementary communication skills are imbibed consciously or subconsciously from observing peers and seniors, faculty feedback, and ward rounds. Despite being an vital part of treatment, doctor-patient communication is still neglected. In fact, many studies have demonstrated that patients aren’t satisfied with the consultation and that doctors aren’t able to communicate adequately with the patients and fail to offer them adequate information. This is why studying doctor-patient communication has become the need of the hour.