Talking with Patients - Softcover

The ability to communicate well is crucial for a doctor's effectiveness in clinical work. Learning to communicate well can present medical and nursing students with a difficult challenge. 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 introduction to the skills of talking with and listening to patients avoids jargon and mystique. In addition to analyzing the interchange of information, the book also focuses attention on the affective dimensions of the medical interview, and the feelings of both patient, and doctor. The text includes an account of the problems of communication with particular categories of patients, such as children, adolescents, the aged and the dying. Communication with patients from other cultures is also reviewed.