Friday, June 29, 2012

The Joy of Throwing - New Post on MPNforum

See my latest column in the Summer Supplement to MPNforum. It's entitled the Joy of Throwing and chronicles my recent efforts to qualify for the National Senior Games in 2013. Go to: MPNforum

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Graphic on Mind the Gap Emphasizes Impact of Clinician-Patient Communication

A new posting on the blog, Mind the Gap, by Stephen Wilkins, graphically shows the value of good clinician-patient communication. See: Mind the Gap Graphic.

I really like the quote he included from George Bernard Shaw, "The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred".

Shaw's quote reflects a key finding from research on clinician-patient communication: clinicians who have lover levels of skill are least likely to be aware of their skill deficit. For example, a review on the effectiveness of self-assessment of learner needs by I. Colthart and colleages (Medical Teacher, 30(2):124-45, 2008) found evidence that that the least competent are also the least able to self-assess accurately. This is why we can't count on clinician self-report and need to assess the competency of clinicians using methods that provide direct evidence of clinician communication skills, such as audio or videos of actual encounters,  evaluations of simulated encounters, assessment of patient experience. (See: Levinson et al.,  Health Aff (Millwood) 29(7): 1310-8.)

The good news is that the accuracy of self-assessment can be enhanced by feedback, particularly video and verbal feedback.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Too much talking | QReview

Follow this link Too much talking | QReview to a blog post about the importance of  eliciting understanding, concerns and beliefs and listening, rather than just telling.

The author, Dr. Susan Shaw, is Chair, Health Quality Council and Department Head, Adult Critical Care, for the Saskatoon Health Region in Canada.

The post originally appeared on Q Review, a blog published by theThe Health Quality Council (HQC). HQC is an independent agency that measures and reports on quality of care in Saskatchewan, promotes improvement, and engages its partners in building a better health system.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

A Program to Promote Empathy Among Residents: Documenting Medicine

See this link for a story about an innovative program for promoting empathy among medical residents at Duke.

Documenting Medicine