“Please Sit Down, Doctor”

Communications between doctor and patient should be as good as possible.  Interpersonal skills need to be honed, courtesy practiced, and the environment for exchange of information should be optimized.  The time spent with a patient should be long enough to complete the exchange, but there’s no harm if the patient perceives that it seems a little longer than it actually is.  Modern hospital practice may not encourage a warm handshake, but there’s another way to extend an apparent courtesy that’s effective in improving the meeting, at least from the patient’s perspective.

Researchers wanted to see whether, if doctors sat down during their hospital room visit, the duration of their visit would be longer.  Data were obtained from a prospective, randomized, controlled study conducted at The University of Kansas Hospital on 120 post-operative neurosurgical inpatients.  Doctors were instructed, randomly, to stand or to sit in a chair next to the patient during their visit.

The average time the standing doctors spent at the bedside was one minute and 28 seconds.  But the average time the patients reported the doctor was with them was 3 minutes and 44 seconds.  When the doctor sat beside the patient, the average actual time spent was one minute and 4 seconds.  But the patients perceived the visit had lasted for 5 minutes and 14 seconds.       

Patients’ perceptions of the length of visits were clearly longer when the doctors sat down – 40% longer, in fact.  Detailed interviews with 38 of the patients revealed that when the doctors sat down, 95% rated the exchange as ‘positive’.  (‘Positive’ interaction was interpreted as having a better understanding of their condition and greater satisfaction with their care.)  When the doctor stood, however, the visit was rated positive by only 61% of the patients.

One might think that the doctors’ act of sitting was merely a manipulation of the interaction with the patient.  I prefer to believe that the results – perceived longer time of the visit, perceived more often as ‘positive’ – are the reflection of a courtesy extended to the patient.  Sitting rather than standing puts the two participants in the exchange on a more equal footing, and facilitates communication – the purpose of the visit in the first place.  But nothing, really, can replace good communications skills.

Comments

[alex0211]

yes really I am agree with this things
everybody patient has to sit with doctor and
Communications between doctor and patient
should be proper.............