Conference paper
THE DOCTOR PATIENT RELATIONSHIP; WHAT IF COMMUNICATION SKILLS ARE NOT USED? A MALTESE STORY
Sophie Woodhead
; Clare College Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Isabella Lindsley
; Clare College Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Claranne Micallef
; Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Malta
Mark Agius
; Clare College Cambridge, Cambridge, UK ; Department of Psychiatry University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Abstract
The doctor patient relationship is fundamental to the practice of medicine. In the UK, much work has been carried out to develop
taining in communication skills for both doctors and medical students. Whereas it is true that controled trials of communication
skills are now beginning to emerge in the primary care literature, it is also true that there is need for studies of communication skills
on the hospital ward. One alternative form of evidence for the need of communication skills is that of anthropological studies of
hospital wards. We here summarise the observations made in one such anthropological study which was carried out in a renal unit
in Malta. The conclusion of these observations is that the inability of the doctors to utilise communication skills is that patients
develop meaningful relationships with other groups of professionals, to the extent that they consider them as part of an extended
family. Doctors remain isolated from all these relationships and only relate to patients from a position of power.
Keywords
communication skills; doctor patient relationship; anthropological studies
Hrčak ID:
264447
URI
Publication date:
8.9.2015.
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