GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ever feel like your doctor is in a rush to get you out the door when you come in for a visit? You’re not just imagining things. One study finds physicians give a patient an average of just 11 seconds to describe their issue before cutting them off.
Researchers from the University of Florida determined that for all the waiting we do after we arrive at a medical practitioner’s office, its the doctors who seem to have the least amount of patience. The study shows that just a third of physicians give patients adequate time to explain why they’re there.
“Our results suggest that we are far from achieving patient-centered care,” says study co-author Naykky Singh Ospina in a release, adding that medicals specialists proved to be in the biggest hurry, compared to primary care physicians.
Singh Ospina, who led the research team, sought to examine the flow of conversation between clinicians and patients. More importantly, researchers wanted to see how viable it was for the most important person in the room — the patient, of course — to lead the discussion. Her researchers secured videos of consultations that were filmed in clinics across the U.S. as training sessions for the physicians between 2008 and 2015.
Examining doctor-patient conversations
The team specifically analyzed the first few minutes of the 112 consultations, looking to find out how frequently doctors let the patients dictate the conversation. This was done through inquiries such as, “Tell me what brings you in today,” or “What can I do for you today?” If patients were given the opportunity to set the agenda, the researchers then timed the responses to see how long they could speak before the doctor interrupted them.
The results show that just 36% of doctors ask questions that allowed patients to set the agenda, but two-thirds (67%) of those patients were interrupted after responding. Researchers calculated the doctors cut patients off 11 seconds on average into a response, while those who were able to describe their issue in full needed only six seconds to do so.
“If done respectfully and with the patient’s best interest in mind, interruptions to the patient’s discourse may clarify or focus the conversation, and thus benefit patients,” says Singh Ospina. “Yet, it seems rather unlikely that an interruption, even to clarify or focus, could be beneficial at the early stage in the encounter.”
Burnout to blame?
Researchers also found that only 20% of specialists give patients the opportunity to describe their issue at the onset of a consultation. Of course, it’s certainly possible it may be because they’ve already been briefed on a patient’s problem through a referral or a nurse’s inquiry. Conversely, half of primary care physicians reviewed in the study inquired about a patient’s agenda off the bat.
Still, Singh Ospina notes the importance of physicians — even if they’d previously been alerted to a patient’s reason for visiting — to allow people to discuss their concerns right away.
“Even in a specialty visit concerning a specific matter, it is invaluable to understand why the patients think they are at the appointment and what specific concerns they have related to the condition or its management,” she says.
As for reasons behind being in such a hurry, the authors suggest burnout that many doctors experience could prevent them from adequately serving their patients needs. Other factors include time constraints or simply not receiving strong enough training on how to communicate properly with patients.
The study is published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
This post was originally published on July 20, 2018.
THE STUDY CONCLUSIONS ARE VALID. I FIRED MY DOCTOR. DR. LESTER CRANCER OF JCH MEDICAL IN JERSEYVILLE, IL. WHY? HE VIOLATED HIS HIPPOCRATIC OATH 4X’S. HE REFUSED TO PRESCRIBE ME ANTI-BIOTICS AND I REMAINED SICK FOR 2 MONTHS. THE HEART DR PRESCRIBED THEM AND I GOT WELL. CRANCER THEN REFUSED TO WRITE ME NEW SCRIPTS FOR NEEDED MEDS AFTER I LOST A NEUROLOGIST DUE TO THE MEDICAID SPLIT UP. IN 5 DAYS I WOULD BE OUT OF MY MEDS. HEART DR REPORTED HIM FOR HIS “BS” INACTION. HEART DR WAS PREPARED TO WRITE THE SCRIPTS, BUT CRANCER FORCED MY NEUROLOGIST, THAT WAS NO LONGER MY DOCTOER TO WRITE ME A ONE SHOT CHARLIE SCRIPT. AFTER I FIRED HIM DR. CRANCER BANNED ME FROM SEEING JCH MEDICAL DR’S, BECAUSE “I REFUSED TO FOLLOW THE DR’S ORDERS”. THE ONLY ORDERS HE GAVE WERE “TO DO NOTHING”. REFUSING TO PROVIDE MY TWO NEEDED MEDS WA NOTHING LESS THAN A HIT PUT OUT ON MY LIFE! WOULD YOU SEE A DR. THAT YOU DID NOT TRUST? I WON’T! THAT’S WHY I FIRED HIM. NOW JCH MEDICAL NEEDS TO FIRE HIM. HIS STAFF TOLD ME THAT HE’S DONE THIS TO DOZENS OF PATIENTS LATELY.
11 seconds…? Seems like a long time
Forget doctors, take your health into your own hands. PTSD? Take ecstasy or psilocybin/DMT in a controlled setting. Physical injury? Anything short of amputation can be healed naturally. I’ve seen full spinal cord severs partially healed after 14 months on strict protocols of specific herbs and fresh fruit. I’ve seen stage IV pancreatic cancer healed in 2 months, same protocol. Brain cancers, bone cancers, scoliosis, most psychological disorders, same protocol.
Can any formally trained doctor do ANY of that? Not just addressing symptoms but healing the underlying problem, such that no further medication/care is required? These people are the quacks. If you break a bone or if you take a bullet or need stitches, sure. But 99% of our problems can be solved through natural means. True naturopaths like Robert Morse are your best bet almost every time.
That’s not how it works at all. It depends on the provider and type of provider you are visiting. To begin with, you ALWAYS see a nurse first to whom you explain the reason you are visiting. If primary care, you will then see the provider, who already knows the reason you are visiting, If a specialist, say a cardiologist, you have blood work taken an an EKG prior to seeing the physician. etc. I think that there is such a need to fill print space that articles with no basis in fact are simply spewed out. One of the primary problems is that one can go to different providers, even for blood work, and get totally different results from the same tests. The variance is astounding.
After the patient brings up what they learned on WebMD, it is more than appropriate to interrupt them.
The medical industrial complex is corrupt!
Really? 11 seconds? Do ya really think it’s that long?
I just visited my doctor.
Been going to him for 15 years sometimes twice a year.
He was so absent minded I had to ask him if he had been checked for dementia.
My cardiologist is even worse in a different way.
He talks at 78rpm’s, I can only listen at 33 1/3.
If you are old enough, you understand the reference.
I’m sorry what did you say?
I just read a study that found that most doctors stop listening to you 11 seconds into your doctor visit. The next time I get a check up, the first words out of my mouth to the good ol’ doc will be that I have AIDS, Cancer, Ebola and the tiny conjoined twin in my ass crack has Montezumas Revenge. Then, once I’m fully confident that I have his full & undivided attention, I’ll tell him that I have high blood pressure too!
Best post on internet today. Thanks for the laugh!
I am so grateful *knock on wood* I don’t ever go to doctors. What’s the point? I’m severely allergic to all their prescription drug-crap.
I have a 70 y.o. BiL Doc-in-a-box. He sees 85 pts every 10-12 hour day, the vast majority with acute trivial complaints that have waited until the last possible instance to seek help. God bless the docs.
Most people are dolts who can barely complete a sentence.
How about come prepared?
Doctors willingly listen when you have something relevant to say.
Damned illegals and their foreigner language! Lol
As someone is is very ill, they shut down the second they say hello. It is an average of one second at the VA hospital
ER Doctor ( PA ) didn’t listen and after a slue of people the young Head Nurse sat down and talk and listened , paid attention to Sciatica, Something popped, Can’t Sit , Numbness in Foot and then touched and asked here, here, here , She got and immediately called for an MRI, Second ER Doctor ( PA ) said yea, ” of course ” numbness of the back of Calf and Toes, First Doc should be eaten by a pack of wolves , which in her case will be Lawyers eventually
Doctors treat disease processes. Nurses treat people. I am quite fortunate that my PCP is a former RN/ARNP who also got her MD.
Ordinarily I won’t go into an office where their nursing staff is awful (the doc will be lousy too).
The ER doc is not there to just listen to complaints. And ER’s should not be used as a doctors office. If its is NOT an emergency you shouldn’t be there.
I am a surgeon and the hypothesis they are stating is not true….come on now….well..Medicare demands 30 seconds….this study is incorrect
Most people research their used car purchases far, far more than their physicians’ qualifications. And doctors know it. Where did YOUR doctor go to med school? Do his residency? What board certifies him/her?
Do you think if you know the name of his medical school it will somehow make him/her a better doctor? Board certifications are far more important.
Best way to stay healthy is to stay away from doctors.
Went to meet a new internist the other day – one of the first time I have encountered this. Previously I would have said have not seen this before.
he had his game plan for all these visits etc. he didn’t ask and didn’t seem interested in my specialists (he was a referral from same practice no less) and recent lab results (3 weeks old). He wanted to order up lots of stuff included infrequent tests that had all been completed within the last year and are needed every 3 to 5 years. When I pushed back he snarked and asked, “you have insurance right? – what do you care?”.
i said, “I care 2 ways…first I don’t have time to get extra unneeded tests performed, and second I am a partner in a private firm so a few dozen of us cover insurance for hundreds of employees and their families. I don’t want to see insurance abused. If we have high usage then I do pay for it. I pay for all of my insurance and kick in my share for half of the insurance of 3,000 employees.
Looking back on it, it think its because the internist was a new yorker and probably thinks everyone in DC is a country bumpkin compared to him.
I have a follow-up and then I won’t be returning.
Doctors make their big bucks based on how many patients that they can cram into a day; certainly not how well or even if they listen at all to those that may be literally dying before their eyes. More tests, more drugs, etc, etc…. No one really cares anymore. The assembly line of life. In one end and out the other. just pray that you don’t break-down somewhere in the middle cause the doctor ain’t home.