For more than 30 years, med students have been taught to let patients talk at their own pace, but is that always the best approach? In an , Larry Mauksch, MEd, a physician trainer at the University of Washington, says no.
Mauksch offers a series of examples in which carefully considered interruptions help both the doctor and the patient in keeping discussions on track to their mutual benefit. In all of them, the physician first says "excuse me" and then expresses empathy and offers an explanation for the interruption -- what Mauksch calls "the Triple E" -- to help patients "feel involved and respected."
Still, he writes, "interruption is a sharp knife ... The patient who begins a visit telling an emotionally laden story, often about loss or fear, needs to be listened to."