Bedside manner can be a powerful tool for healing. It can also increase compliance. So, why isn’t this humanizing tool ubiquitously utilized today?
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I have spent the last 56 days navigating the hospital health care system with my family as we collaborated on (and advocated for) the care and healing of my 79-year-old mother after her major stroke. And, I have experienced everything from world-class, award-winning care and compassion to dehumanizing, downright disrespectful treatment. Surgeons, doctors, internists, hospitalists, P.A.s, residents, nurses, techs, therapists—we have met and collaborated with close to a hundred in this time.
A recent study from Healthgrades and Medical Group Management Association revealed that compassion, patience, and bedside manner improve patient satisfaction. The Patient Sentiment Report found that more than 52% of patients stated that they wanted their doctor to have at least one of the following qualities: compassion, comfort, patience, personality, and bedside manner. The takeaway: A meaningful connection between patients and their physician can lead to improved medical care and outcomes.
In an era where many ECPs are focused on enhancing the patient experience, bedside manner is a baseline tool. Stanford University is so behind the idea that it launched the Stanford 25 Bedside Teaching Symposium nearly 10 years ago.
Today, I leave you with one thought from Atul Gawande, M.D., MPH, an observer of medical behavior and practice, who shares in his 2007 book, “Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance”:
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It is unsettling how little it takes to defeat success in medicine. You come as a professional equipped with expertise and technology. You do not imagine that a mere matter of etiquette could foil you. But the social dimension turns out to be as essential as the scientific matter of how casual you should be, how formal, how reticent, how forthright. Also how apologetic, how self confident, how money minded. In this work against sickness, we begin not with genetic or cellular interactions but with human ones.
Erinn Morgan,
Editor-in-Chief + Editorial Director
Director of Social Media, PentaVision
