Brush up your communication skills
What patients want to get out of their consultations
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Talk to ten different patients, and each will have different ideas as to what they want to get out of a consultation with a doctor.
Your list will have been different again.
Helman (1981) suggested that a patient goes to a doctor seeking answers to six questions:
- What has happened?
- Why has it happened?
- Why to me?
- Why now?
- What would happen if nothing was done about it?
- What should I do about it or whom should I consult for further help?
Think
How much of an overlap is there between "what doctors want to get out of consultations" and "what patients want to get out of consultations?
How much of a difference is there?
How can you consult in a way that meets the needs of both doctors and patients?
Next page: Doctor- and patient-centeredness
Study guide by: Michael Harris (Department of General Practice, Bath).
Last updated: 31 October 2005