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.
Well, sure. Because if you can’t get it out in 11 seconds it’s not going to come out.
My recent experience with young(er) doctors showed they are far more interested in hearing me out.
At 78 years old I am fortunate to have a doctor that does listen. However, I do try to make is as easy for him as possible by making the list prior to my visit – as to my concerns. I am in unusually good heath for my age so the list is short – however, he addresses each one. I changed to him from a doctor such as described in the article – that one didn’t even give you the 11 seconds! Doctors are busy but they are in the business of serving patients – they put a lot of schooling, residency, etc. into that business and we need to be the beneficiaries. I have one grandson who is now in his residency, another just starting the process. I hope they are able to set an example such as my current doctor is doing – I’m sure they will.
What do you expect when the government requires the doctors to do the massive data entry on a PDA using slow networks that are trying to keep up with demands. This displaced the jobs for medical transcription, this makes a much sense as having Tom Brady clean the uniforms after the game. Keep doctors in front of patients not found mindless data entry.
Institution of medicine is corrupt as hell. Most MD’s are a joke.
The RN is the real DR.!
That’s simply not true…I was talking to my doctor for FIFTEEN minutes when he said, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening!?”
most of the doctors are asian or Indian(not Native) they scarcely speak intelligible english and have
little idea of American cultural nuance
Could that have anything to do with the fact that over 200,000 people died of malpractice last year ?
Having listened to patients for over 40 years, I came to realize the virtually all of them came to the office without organizing their thoughts. On the other hand, a famous doctor once said, “Listen to your patients. They are telling you the diagnosis.” Saying that, patients often focus on medically irrelevant information, which, due to the constraints of time, requires the doc to refocus the conversation. Especially today, with a Google-informed public, patients come to the visit armed by research that might not be valid. Doctors have to sort that out, while under pressure from the “payers” to see a certain number of patients within a certain period of time, not a good scenario for the best communication. Generalizing the entire medical profession with this conclusion is unfair, but my prior comments might help explain why the claim might occur in some offices.
Under pressure of GREED is more like it . Dr.’s offices are like mass production factories , more so than ever since the ‘ miracle ‘ of Hobama care .
The first 10 seconds is used by them logging onto their computer
Thank Obamacare for that. Computers help some but they are crushing the physician patient relationship.
Bad doctors galore with a few good ones. Been mistreated by many doctors, many are bored, hate their jobs, don’t listen and when you get your records, they call you CRAZY if they can’t find what’s wrong with you. Get you records from another doctor in another state and the doctor will be appalled and mad as hell at what he/she reads from your hometown doctor. It’s an old saying, “if they don’t know what’s wrong with you, they call you CRAZY!”
I trust a Veterinarian with my life more than I trust most doctors. Veterinarians love animals. Doctors go into medicine for the love of Money. Give me a VET any day.
If your doctor is in the business for money, he is an idiot and he is probably not an idiot, and you are probably wrong:
https://www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/salary-of-doctors/
This is completely true and its something Ive chewed my doctor out for and even dropped them for it in the past.
On average 11 seconds. If the patient is intelligent and gets to the point, I’m sure the doctor gets more useful information and keeps listening.
When I call for an appointment, my Doctors assistant ask me why I want to see the Doctor, I tell her and she makes a written note….the Doc. has it in front of him when I walk into his office, very little conversation, my Doctors Great, I tell him it hurts to hold my arm up like this and he sez; “Don’t do that”!!!!…..I’m in and out in 20 min. not counting waiting room time.