Communication for Doctors: How to Improve Patient Care And Minimize Legal Risks: How to Improve Patient Care And Minimize Legal Risks

What Makes a Good Health Care System? examines the various assumptions that underpin the different views of what makes a good health care system. The national systems in the UK, Australia and Canada are thoroughly examined. Each country has a different view of what a good health care system is trying to achieve, and the book elucidates these by highlighting key policy documents and comments from key stakeholders. Case studies emphasise the diverse needs and expectations of individuals, examining and comparing concepts of health needs, quality as a measure of ‘good-ness’ and the various ideas on Gold Standards. This book will be valuable reading for all healthcare managers and clinicians with management responsibilities, as well as policy makers and shapers and all those with a general interest in health. Cover 1 Title 2 Copyright 3 Contents 4 Foreword 6 Preface 8 About the editor 10 List of contributors 11 Patients are a virtue 14 What do patients think of doctors as communicators? 15 Making patients your partners 16 Thirty ways to make your practice more "patient-friendly" 17 Eight easy ways to make the medicine go down 19 Answering questions patients don't ask 21 Can your patients read your writing? 23 How about a Hippocratic Oath for patients? 24 Hippocrates was right: treat people, not their disease 25 How non-verbal communication can give patients a sense of connectedness 27 Empowered patients may have something to teach us 28 How to communicate with patients who (think they) know more than you do 30 How to deal with illiterate patients 31 How to avoid alienating patients 32 "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning" 34 Seven ways to build trust with your patients on their first visit 36 Watch your language 38 Medicine and the English language 39 The printed word: encouraging a more coherent view of the world 43 Writing and speaking painlessly 44 Who's for Tennyson? The case for language and literature in medical school 47 Splitting atoms and infinitives 49 Making sure your language doesn't mystify patients 51 Reforming the language of healthcare 52 Euphemism in medicine: calling a spade a horticultural implement 53 Humor in medicine: the whimsy of Richard Gordon 54 Elevator etiquette: when is communication too effective? 55 A conversation with Norman Cousins 56 The future of medical publishing 61 Physician, heal thyself 70 Becoming accustomed to public speaking 71 Do you speak "Medispeak"? 73 Let's hear it for sounder listening skills! 75 Specialty scientific meetings: time for critical review 77 Recognizing and avoiding non-verbal cues we give our patients 79 Strategies for not appearing rushed 80 Doctors can deliver hope as well as facts of prognosis 81 The doctor patient 84 The importance of doctors' "people skills" 85 The profession's image: you're OK, they're not 86 What's wrong with a little "loathsome finery"? 88 Physicians: an endangered species? 89 Manners and medicine 90 Improving physicians' grades in communication 91 How to avoid getting kicked by the media donkey 92 Reading to keep up to date 94 Are postgraduate courses necessary? 96 Doctor-to-doctor communication 97 Controlling the information balloon 98 Managing your practice 100 How your staff can make or break your practice 101 Improving your efficiency by maximizing your time 103 Technology to enhance your practice 104 Healthscapes: how physical surroundings influence perceptions of quality 105 Hiring? Use this checklist 106 How to handle complaints 108 How to respond to an angry complaint 110 How to improve your sign language 111 A complete, updated and signed history is vital before treatment begins 113 Making your reception area more welcoming 115 Minimizing risk 116 Communication and documentation at the root of growing legal risks 117 Clean up your documentation: use SOAP 118 Telephone advice should be documented 119 The telephone: instrument of the devil or practice enhancer? 120 Ten tips for effective informed consent discussions 121 Top ten issues in medical malpractice 123 You've been called as an expert witness: now what? 124 Terminating the physician-patient relationship 125 Quiz 126 Are you a good communicator? 127 Patient questionnaire 130 Index 134 Patients;,Hippocrates;,Medicine Patients,Hippocrates,Medicine This text, written by experts in the field, provides practical tips to all doctors to sharpen their diagnostic and communication skills in order to improve relationships with patients and avoid errors and litigation Provides Practical Tips To Arm Doctors With Knowledge And Sharpen Their Communication Skills Thus Improving Their Relationships With Patients, Avoiding Errors And Litigation. David Woods, Editor. Includes Index.