July 2023 Communication Tip
The First Visit
In honor of the beginning of the academic year, I'd like to reprise a communication tip from 2019 about The First Visit.
The key to new patient visits and the first minutes of a follow-up visit is being thoughtful about how you welcome the patient, finding out what the patient’s main concerns are, and then explaining your agenda for the visit. The rest is negotiation!
Here are some suggestions:
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Step |
What you say |
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1. Welcome your patient |
“Nice to meet you.” “Great to see you again.” Not: “You look great” (the patient might not feel great!)
Then, for patients new to you... "What would like me to call you?"
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2. Ask about your patient’s main concerns for the visit |
“What are the important questions you wanted me to answer today?” “Is there anything you wanted to ask me about?” “Do you have anything to put on our agenda?” “Anything else?” (often the most important issue is not first)
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3. Explain your agenda |
“There are 2 things I wanted to make sure we talked about…”
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4. Propose an agenda that combines the patient’s and your concerns |
“How about if we talk about your question first, then cover my 2 things?” or “Given these things, what is most important for you to cover?”
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5. Be prepared to negotiate. |
“Ok, I understand that the most important issue for you today is ___.” “I hear that you have a number of questions. Could we prioritize them so that we cover the most important ones if we don’t have time to get through all of them?”
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6. Ask for feedback |
“Do you feel like we’ve covered the agenda? How did we do?” |
All my best,
Mike