October 2004

Public values good listening in doctors

Developing good listening skills and treating patients with respect may help you retain patients.

According to a HarrisInteractive online poll taken for The Wall Street Journal, adults in the United States believe it is extremely important for their doctors to have strong interpersonal skills, such as being respectful (85 percent) and listening carefully to their healthcare concerns and questions (84 percent).

Adults also feel it is important for a doctor to be easy to talk to (i4 percent), to take their concerns seriously (83 percent) and truly care about them and their health (81 percent).

The consequence of doctors not having good interpersonal skills is a drop in patient retention. According to the poll, 14 percent changed doctors because they didn’t feel their doctors listened to them carefully, 12 percent changed because their doctors didn’t spend enough time with them and 11 percent felt they weren’t treated with respect.

Source: HarrisInteractive, http://www.harrisinteractive.com

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