People always ask me how I got started with my work in physician-patient communications. Like so many people, I had a story that I felt needed to be told. Much of my inspiration over the course of the last five years of writing Mind the Gap have come from my wife...
Did you know that on a typical day in the office seeing patients, the average physician misses hundreds of opportunities to engage, activate patients and excite their patients? Why? It's not because they are too busy. Research shows it is because physicians don't have...
A recent study in Medical Care about Horizon BCBS of New Jersey's Medical Home pilot reminded me of the expression a "house does not make a home." Or in this case how building a medical house to the spec (as laid out by 3rd parties like NCQA and JACHO) is not the...
Face it. We all have personal health goals. We may not share our personal health goals with family of friends like we do our financial or professional goals, but we all still have them. I for example aspire to the following personal health goals: To defy the...
Each of us wears many different “hats” throughout the course of the day. We are an employee, a wife, a father, a club member, a consumer and so on. It comes as no surprise that our thinking, what we say, and how we say it at any particular time coincides with the...
Since most physicians probably will not be able to get beyond the first couple of lines of this post without yelling at the monitor...I will get to the 3 reasons…and if you stick with me …I’ll present my case for why they are so important. Your visits will be more...
A recent qualitative study (structured interviews) of patients conducted at McGill University School of Medicine underscores the importance of listening in physician-patient interactions. In this study, patients were asked to identify the qualities of a good...
Everywhere you turn in the health care literature these days we are told how physicians need to do a better job getting patients engaged in their own health. But is lack of patient engagement really the problem? If Patients Are In Their Doctor's Office They Are...