Episode 16: What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear - Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD

Dr. Marie Curious and MedPEP host Dr. Schwab have a rich and engaging conversation on the doctor-patient relationship with primary care physician and writer Dr. Danielle Ofri. The discussion contains numerous clinical pearls, some of which are drawn from Dr. Ofri’s experiences learning to play the cello as an adult. She reflects on her own frustrations with electronic medical records in a way that steers Marie in the direction of valuing and savoring the time she spends with patients, attentively listening to their stories, while judiciously and productively managing the visit length. Dr. Ofri urges physicians to utilize the first few minutes of each outpatient visit for “full frontal listening.” This helps to win the patient’s trust while providing hard data that reveals the patient’s most pressing health concerns. She links this technique of active, empathic listening to two of the holy grails valued by health care business leaders: patient satisfaction and patient safety. Dr. Ofri encourages physicians to adopt a mindset of continuous learning, growth, and professional development, and views this stance as an antidote to personal and professional burnout. And finally, Dr. Ofri advises that “if you really want to feel rejuvenated about medicine, make a house call to one of your frail patients. It makes you feel good about what you are doing.” Drs. Curious and Schwab concur with the importance of reconnecting to the essence of clinical medicine: the doctor-patient relationship.
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