One of the lectures on medical communication was given by Wojciech Feleszko, MD, PhD, from the Department of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases and Allergology MUW. The lecturer, who is also a practitioner and clinician, cited a number of studies documenting the importance of good communication in daily practice. One study examined the causes of medical lawsuits. As we know, the United States is a country famous for its high number of lawsuits against doctors, which translates into significant financial losses for clinics and hospitals. So they began to investigate the matter. - It turned out that, in fact, the cause of the vast majority of lawsuits is not medical malpractice, but doctor-patient communication disorders. The most common complaint was that the physician was arrogant, unpleasant, and non-empathetic, said Dr. Feleszko. The paper's first author, Wendy Levinson, a physician from the United States, conducted a study involving two groups of physicians. The first included those who never received lawsuits from patients. In the second, those who received them frequently. They found that doctors in the first group, unlike those in the second group, talked to patients for an average of 3 minutes longer, showed interest in them, asked about family and well-being. Conclusions? Even 3 more minutes makes a difference, and that's the time to ask an open-ended question or one not directly related to the subject of the consultation. But this is not the only benefit. - Better communication also brings better therapeutic effects - said Dr. Wojciech Feleszko and proved it with the example of the results of treatment of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. - Patients are more likely to follow recommendations from a doctor they like and trust. There is no doubt that empathy and communication skills translate into treatment outcomes. We have dozens of papers on this topic, which apply not only to internal medicine, but also to other areas of medicine, such as surgery or orthopedics," Dr. Feleszko concluded.
Other speakers also spoke about the importance of good doctor-patient communication. Małgorzata Szczepanek and Jędrzej Ochremiak of the Academy of Medical Communication presented this issue from the patients' side, explaining what their most important expectations are. Prof. Robert Śmigiel from the Medical University of Wrocław devoted his speech to how to communicate unfavorable information in perinatology and pediatrics. Dr. Stanisław Maksymowicz and Maria Libura, MA, from the Medical College of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, spoke about how to convey bad news to patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The experts also addressed medical communication during the SARS CoV 2 pandemic and in the context of the development of advanced technologies related to telemedicine.
Among the speakers were the representatives of 16 universities, and 39 papers were presented during nine thematic sessions. Apart from Wojciech Feleszka, MD, PhD, our University was represented at the conference by: Prof. Dagmara Mirowska-Guzel, Anna Kołodziejek, MD, Joanna Pazik, MD, PhD, Prof. Zbigniew Czernicki, Dr. Antonina Doroszewska, Piotr Zawadzki, MA, as well as Dr. Grażyna Dykowska, Wojciech Oronowicz-Jaśkowiak, MA, together with Szymon Śleboda, Prof. Tomasz Pasierski and Wojciech Glinkowski, MD, PhD.
The event was organized by the MUW units – Department of Medical Communication Department of Medical Ethics and Center for Medical Humanities and Social Sciences in cooperation with the Medical Language Group of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Polish Society for Medical Communication, the Institute of Polish Language at the University of Warsaw and the Laboratory of Social Medicine, Collegium Medicum of Nicolaus Copernicus Univeristy in Torun (UMK).
