RT Book, Section A1 Kravitz, Richard L. A1 Street, Richard L. SR Print(0) ID 1181983009 T1 How Communication Fails T2 Understanding Clinical Negotiation YR 2021 FD 2021 PB McGraw Hill PP New York, NY SN 9781260462494 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1181983009 RD 2024/10/05 AB Clinical Take-AwaysThe remarkable thing about clinician-patient communication is not how often it fails but how often it succeeds.Creating shared understanding is often complicated by differences in clinicians’ and patients’ life experiences and perspectives on health.Three types of communication failures are not understanding (the result of making unfounded assumptions), misunderstanding (saying it or hearing it wrong), and disagreeing (having different opinions).Clinicians should:Cultivate curiosity, asking “what might it be like to be this patient?”Cultivate humility, recognizing that it is easy to miscommunicate one’s intentions or misunderstand patients’ concerns.Be alert to verbal, paraverbal, and nonverbal clues that the patient is confused about or skeptical of an explanation or suggestion.Be aware of the potential for implicit bias related to race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, and other nonclinical patient characteristics.