MOST DOCTORS LISTEN TO YOU FOR 11 SECONDS

Ever feel like your doctor is in a rush to get you out the door when you come in for a visit? A study has found that physicians give a patient an average of just 11 seconds to describe their issue before cutting them off. Researchers from the University of Florida looked at videos of consultations that were filmed in clinics across the U.S. as training sessions for physicians. The team specifically analyzed the first few minutes of 112 consultations, looking to find out how frequently doctors let the patients dictate the conversation through inquiries such as “Tell me what brings you in today.” If patients were given the opportunity to explain their problem, the researchers then timed the responses to see how long they could speak before the doctor interrupted them. The results showed that two-thirds (67%) of those patients were interrupted after responding. Researchers calculated the doctors cut patients off 11 seconds on average into a response.
* I’m sorry, what did you say? I was thinking of something else.
* So make those first few words to your doctor really count, like “RIGHT LEG HURT BAD! YOU FIX!”
* I’ll bet the doctor would shut up and listen if you, like, pulled a gun on him.
* How about equipping all doctor’s offices with a Talking Stick?