Communicate, Communicate, and communicate

“Speak little, do much.” by Benjamin Franklin has always been one of my favorite quotes. However, it struck me in the past three days that while action is important, speaking, or communicating is just as equally important, especially in healthcare. The story of Michael Skolnik clearly illustrate that it does not matter if you are doing/offering the best you could, patients and family and sometimes the providers can be harmed physically and psychologically when there is a communication breakdown.

We as care providers like to believe that we are “not that bad” in communicating with the patients, nevertheless now when I think back on my experience as a patient or a family member of a patient, I can easily think of places where there is a breakdown in communication. What scares me is that I did not think it is abnormal until very recently. As patients, we expect not… Continue reading →