Gabbing doctors don't help patients, study finds

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Gabbing doctors don't help patients, study finds

Physicians who talk about themselves cut into visit's valuable time

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19418567/

WASHINGTON - Too much personal talk by doctors can be bad medicine,

according to a study published on Monday in which U.S. researchers

sent actors posing as new patients to see doctors in secretly

recorded visits.

Doctors often wasted time in what already may have been short visits

and stifled the flow of information from patients by gabbing about

themselves, their own health problems, their families and their

political beliefs, the study found.

The doctors engaged in such " personal disclosures " in 34 percent of

visits tracked by the researchers. The personal talk may have been

well-intentioned — to deepen a doctor-patient relationship — but

yielded little of value to patients and sometimes was

counterproductive, the researchers said.

" We found that physician self-disclosures were often non sequiturs,

unattached to any discussion in the visit, and focused more on the

physician's than the patient's needs, " they wrote in the journal

Archives of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Beckman, a medical professor at the University of

Rochester in Rochester, New York, said he used to engage in this

type of talk in his own practice.

" I've changed my thinking, " Beckman, who worked on the study, said

in a telephone interview. " What I've learned is when I'm thinking of

talking about myself, I probably need to ask the person (patient)

more about their experience. "

A hundred experienced, primary-care doctors in the Rochester region

agreed to take part in a study of patient care and outcomes,

consenting to two unannounced, audio-recorded patient visits in 2000

and 2001. Actors portrayed first-time patients professing to have

common medical problems.

Useless to patient

Some of the recorded visits were thrown out because the doctor

figured out the actor was not a real patient, leaving 113 visits for

the researchers to analyze.

Eighty-five percent of the personal disclosures by the doctors were

deemed by the researchers to be useless to the patient — not

providing, for example, education, support or explanation or

prompting helpful patient information.

In 79 percent of instances when the doctor engaged in this personal

talk, the conversation never returned to the topic the patient was

discussing before the doctor began yakking.

Eleven percent of the time, what the doctor said was considered

disruptive, including times saying things that seemed to compete

with the patient or expressing personal political views.

" The health care system now requires doctors to see many patients, "

lead researcher Mc of the University of Rochester said

in a statement. " Visits to the doctor often are short and anything

that is a waste of time takes away from getting to what the patient

needs. "