Author Description

The ability to communicate well is crucial for a doctor's effectiveness in clinical work. From the patient's perspective, effective interpersonal communication is regarded as the hallmark of an excellent physician. Learning to communicate well can be a difficult challenge for medical students. The skills involved rest on a framework of knowledge which is often not presented in a succinct and coherent form in the medical curriculum. This revised, accessible work provides a compact, practical introduction to the skills of talking with and listening to patients. The book analyzes the interchange of information, and focuses on the affective dimensions of the medical interview - the feelings of the patient, and of the doctor. The factors which can inhibit or facilitate communication are discussed in detail. The contributed chapters broaden the scope of the book to include communication with particular categories of patients such as the child, the adolescent, the elderly, and the dying. Communication with patients from other cultures is also reviewed. In this new edition, chapters have been added on talking to relatives, discussing pregnancy and reproduction, and making decisions.