By: Aubrey Knox
Who knows your body better than you?
Some would argue that your physician should. And others would argue that all a physician is good for is a prescription and a “Have a nice day.”
When you visit your physician do you feel like you’re being heard? Or do you feel like you walk in the door and get pushed right back out after a few head nods and a “See you next time?”
When we think about our physicians, we think about well-educated professionals who are trained to problem-solve in high-stress environments. We often think of empathic individuals whose goals are to make people feel better. But what if I told you that you are no better than your physician at listening? Now, that is a scary thought.
The Survey
Researcher Christa Arnold from the University of North Florida and her colleagues conducted a mail-based survey with practicing physicians in the Florida area focusing on the University of North Florida and the University of Florida. The researchers removed those who had limited contact with patients like radiologists resulting in a final 1,500 participants who were randomly selected for a three-page open-ended survey.
The study published in The Florida Communication Journal asked questions about the physician’s medical and residency experiences. The researchers’ goal was to find out to what extent these medical professionals had listening skills incorporated into their education along with how they perceived themselves when it came to listening and reading a patient’s nonverbals.
Discoveries
The survey revealed that a fifth of the physicians surveyed had received formal communication and listening training, while just over a third had received no formal training.
Only one-third of the Florida physicians believed that the communications training or lack of formal communications training had impacted their listening skills.
Notably, though, they negatively rated their colleagues’ communication abilities. The researchers also reported that 20% of the physicians surveyed considered their colleagues to have poor listening skills, 43% as fair, 36% as good, and 0% were reported as having had excellent listening skills.
Ultimately the study showed that medical training is lacking in an essential element of patient care.
What Listening Should Be
According to the study, there are two main types of listening, descriptive and comprehensive listening. To a physician, descriptive listening, which is the most basic form of listening focuses on sounds and nonverbal, is used to see if patients are happy or sad, and most importantly if the patient understands medical advice. On the other end of the spectrum, comprehensive listening requires physicians to fully grasp what a patient has said and to understand body language.
These two types of listening, descriptive and comprehensive enable a physician to partake in three other types of listening: therapeutic, critical, and empathic listening.
Therapeutic listening is patient-centered listening and allows the physicians to “be a sympathetic ear.” This type of listening requires the physician to demonstrate nonverbal behaviors that illustrates support. For instance head nods and “uh huhs.”
Critical listening allows a physician to have an opinion, make decisions and problem solve.
Empathic listening requires the physician to understand not only the feelings of the patient but also the emotions while responding appropriately with a personal view.
Not Hearing Can Be Harming
Physicians value listening and other nonverbal communication techniques, but this study suggests that physicians’ skills in these areas are underdeveloped due to a lack of training.
Medical programs put more emphasis on making sure physicians understand the medicine, resulting in patient care training being neglected.
Arnold and her colleagues suggested that a lack of emphasis on listening and truly learning how to hear what patients are saying along with what their bodies are conveying through nonverbals could be hurting patient care. The lack of communication training could also be related to medical error leading to physicians unintentionally harming patients.
While this is a major concern it is also important to note how not being heard can make a patient feel. As a patient, I’ve had physician nonverbally communicate to me in a way that makes me feel like I am taking up their time and like I am not being heard.
However, at the same time, I’m aware that this person is the only one with the knowledge to help me and other patients like me.
Many patients feel trapped and feel like they have nowhere else to go causing them to accept average health care.
Physicians have the knowledge and power to help others, and their training should ensure that they are fully prepared.