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| Patients peeved by sharing, caring GPs |
5-Jul-2007 |
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By Bianca Nogrady
SHARING personal information with a patient during a consultation might seem like a nice way to build a good doctor-patient relationship, but a study has found such disclosure has the opposite effect.
Bringing up personal tidbits interrupted the flow of information between the doctor and patient and used up valuable patient time for no benefit, according to a paper in the Archives of Internal
Medicine (25 June).
Most exchanges were relatively benign, for example, a doctor revealing that they also experienced reflux. However, in one exchange, the authors noted “inadvertent competition” as a doctor compared his weight with the patient’s and claimed to be 15kg lighter.
NSW GP and Australian Doctor columnist Dr Jon Fogarty said when doctors reflected on their own or their family’s experiences during a consultation it was “generally useless until proven otherwise”.
“This person is paying you money for the consultation not just for a chat over the fence,” he said.
Attempts to deformalise the consultation could backfire if any kind of intimate, physical examination was required, Dr Fogarty said.
“It is very reasonable to try to have a relationship that is pleasant and relaxed and comfortable for everybody, but a slight separation is necessary because later on you’re going to do a rectal examination or breast examination,” he said.
“If it has been all jolly, it becomes a little less comfortable to transfer that relationship across to a relationship where it involves a fair degree of intimacy.”
Archives of Internal Medicine 2007; 167:1321-26.
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