You Have 11 Seconds: Go!

Did you ever leave a doctor’s appointment feeling that you never really described what the problem was or that you got sidetracked onto less important issues? Even if you went in organized to the extent that you could, your real concerns were shoved aside? I know hundreds of people who’ve felt that way. Let’s get back to the study I described Tuesday.

The researchers examined a randomized sample of the office visits, which were viewed independently and then ranked as to the nature of the visit. They first looked at whether the physician attempted to elicit a reason for the patient’s visit or not: turns out that the physicians asked only about a third of the time.

If they did ask, the researcher then timed how long the patient was given to explain their health issue before the physician interrupted the patient. The average was 11 seconds. The researchers did not explain the reason for the interruptions, but that’s all the time the patient had. Only the speedy patients who could somehow get it said in six seconds weren’t interrupted. The researchers concluded that not asking why the patient was in the office may not have set the priority of the visit towards what mattered most to the patient. Easy to see how that could happen.

What can you do to make sure that doesn’t happen to you? I’ll give you my thoughts on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

References: J Gen Intern Med (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-018-4540-5