When Doctors Listen

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/opinion/when-doctors-listen.html

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To the Editor:

Re “The Conversation Placebo,” by Dr. Danielle Ofri (Sunday Review, Jan. 22):

What a wonderful confirmation of a physician’s ability to comfort a person in pain simply by mindful listening. What is missing from this article is the acknowledgment that the very same act of listening can also serve as powerful medicine for the physician.

The problem of physician burnout is very apparent to many of us in medicine. It afflicts doctors of all ages, both sexes and all specialties. It is worsening our growing physician shortage as older doctors retire prematurely and younger physicians increasingly look to the direction of business or administration rather than clinical service.

One effective way to remain engaged and resilient: Increase the connection to our patients wherever possible. Unfortunately, there are two recent additions to the doctor’s world that serve as powerful impediments to improved communication between them.

One is the computer, which sits between the doctor and her patient. The second is the insurance company’s ever-present ticking clock.

DOROTHY LEVINE

Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

The writer is a pediatrician.