Tag Archives: patient satisfaction

“Soft” Skills: The Importance of Learning to Communicate

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Communication skills are just as important as medical knowledge and clinical skills

  • M3 Ananya, M3 Eric, MD/PhD student Madi, and our admissions guru Rachel talk about communication skills and their importance for patient outcomes, professional development and advancement, and career satisfaction.
  • Whether it’s patients reviewing their notes in the electronic health record, residents passing on knowledge to students, providers empathetically communicating findings and plans to patients with no scientific background, or scientists collaborating professionally with their colleagues, everything depends on this thing that humans do all the time–with varying degrees of success.
  • Meanwhile, some students may see these as “soft” skills, giving less importance to them than grades on exams or their scores on boards.

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Shocking the Habits Away

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electrocution photo
Photo by zigazou76

This week, Dave volunteers to wear a device that’s received a lot of buzz lately, Pavlok.  It’s creator says that through classical conditioning it will help eliminate bad habits–nail biting, unhealthy eating, procrastination, for instance.  It’s ubiquity on Dave’s social media feeds this past summer got Dave thinking about how much of human disease is based in behavior, bad habits. So Dave asked the company to send it’s crowdfunded, wrist-mounted electrical shocker for evaluation, and they inexplicably said yes.  Aline Sandouk, Lisa Wehr, and Nick Sparr all had a crack at it, and share their experience. Along with Rachel Schenkel, they attempt to use it to teach Dave  not to say “Uh.” Is it effective and worth the $169 price tag?  Are its integrations with the Internet of Things or its Chrome plugin a help for those looking to kick their bad habits?  Are there better, cheaper alternatives?

Also, the Affordable Care Act has begun withholding Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals  based on patient satisfaction surveys, and giving bonuses to those which do well on those surveys.  We explore medical education’s trade-offs in a game of what if. Hint: it turns out that our little group members are a bit mercenary.
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Science Works, But Who Cares?

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But who cares? Photo by DanaK~WaterPenny

From the vibrant Boulware Learning Community, Kaci McCleary, Aline Sandouk, Dylan Todd, and Lisa Wehr discuss Yelp’s new hospital reviews and ProPublica’s Surgeon Scorecard. And we talk about why science and science facts fail to persuade people to believe the truth. Are emotional appeals better used than facts to teach people about medical truths? Is scientific fact as irrelevant now for most people as it was in the early part of the 20th century?
Continue reading Science Works, But Who Cares?