Instead of reading, you could also just listen:

Communication is considered a soft skill.

Not significant, just nice to have.

Right?

Wrong!

Communication is a not only a soft skill.

It is the main tasks of doctors and our most important tool to provide our service.

Even for surgeons!

Have you ever heard the following remark on a surgeon: 

As a person, he /she is rubbish, but with his/ her hands, he / she can create miracles!

Currently, we accept this flaw in someone occupied with “repairing” the body, while they outsource the role of nurturer to another speciality: the carers or nurses.

Have you ever noted the ration between outpatient contact moments and the time for surgery?

This ratio is at least 2:1, meaning two time in outpatient department is added to any surgical encounter (indication – surgery – aftercare = 2:1).

Even surgeons want to make the decision: Whom to operate on, by themselves. They might delegate the after care, but then miss the opportunity to receive the gratitude by the happy family.

For any other discipline, we spend the majority of our work with patients in the outpatient setting. So the ratio is even higher, more like 10:0.

And this is the place for communication.

So you see, communication is a not only a soft skill. It is the core of our job.

What is wrong here?

During the encounter we and our patients need to share loads of information, this need then to be processed, and a plan needs to be consolidated.

Because time is of the essence, we try to jump right to the business at hand: we go into the “Engage”-mode.

But here is the frustrating bit: while we are talking, they are not listening.  We provide information, they tend to ignore.  Many of us decide then to just stop talking, stop explaining, because that feels futile. We know that they only recall about 10% correctly and another 10% incorrectly.

So, W

hy bother?

My counter question is: Why do we continue to waste our time?

Why do we keep making the same mistakes over and over again?

I want to share my experience as an ENT-specialist and the lessons I have learned.
This was my way of becoming a doctor, who engages with patients from neonates until the elderly.

All the mistakes and pitfalls described in the blog, I have made myself multiple times.

Communication is a not only a soft skill, it is the core of our job.

My aim is:

Stop wasting your time and the time of your patients. Let the examination room is no longer be a dungeon for

patients, but a safe place where we meet on eye-level.

The goal is, that the encounter with me, the medical specialist, is actually fun for the paediatric patient and their parent. And that they are empowered to partner with me in their health care journey.

You just need the right personality!

That sentiment is widespread: non-technical skills are personality traits, you can’t teach them.

Here, I disagree wholeheartedly: the basic principles of good communication are applied psychological principles. They can be identified, understood and taught!

Communication is a not only a soft skill, it is the core of our job.

I don’t have time for that!

It is often perceived, that a cooperative communication style takes longer. I disagree again.

In my clinic, it takes me about 15 -20 seconds with any neurotypical child, that is over 18 months for them to voluntarily come to my examination room and to sit on the examination chair by themselves and for them to allow me to perform an Ear-Nose-Throat examination without restrain or fear. My success rate is about 97%.

For neurodiverse children the time is slightly longer, about 50 seconds. The result is the same.

Are you curious?

Curious about, how I do this magic trick?

No magic involved: just applied psychological principles. And yes, you can learn them too!

Communication is a not only a soft skill, it is the core of our job.

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Your examination room is their dungeon

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How to enter the examination room safely