Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> Scott Mead: The first question I usually ask a person has nothing to do
with sometimes their medical problems.
It may be where you from, you know, what do you do for a living 'cause I do want to get an idea
of what they were like before they got sick.
And I ask them where they live, who they live with and I think
that helps you provide a context and provides a way to connect to patients
on a level that's not purely medical.
It's one thing to spew out information and talk for 10 minutes straight and then stop and say,
all right, goodbye; it's another to stop intermittently and say do you understand that,
what questions do you have about that.
And most importantly say now, tell me what I just told you; what did you hear.
I want to make sure that I'm communicating correctly.
Healthcare is becoming more complex; that means more tests are available, more specialists
and subspecialists are available and the challenge is is who's keeping that all straight
and what's the most important thing to the patient.
Someone has to be the first person, the first line of defense when the patient has concerns,
they don't understand what's going on, they've heard different things from different people;
ultimately I'm the one responsible for making sure they understand what's going on.