Physicians in their medical residency training programs often focus on scientific reasoning and research evidence in their efforts to provide medical care. While appropriate, this focus may overshadow subtle and indirect communication that reveals important information about the patient’s experience with their illness that will help the physician provide better care.
A new study by researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and Boston College presents the results of a strategy to train medical residents to reflect on interactions with patients as a way of understanding the meaning of both their patient’s, and their own, communication.
