Physician-patient communication in the urban clinical setting

Improving communication between doctor and patient can help meet the objective of providing high-quality, cost-effective, accessible health care. The benefits of effective communication are considerable. Studies indicate that good physician-patient communication can improve diagnostic accuracy and treatment adherence, increase the satisfaction of doctor and patient, and thereby reduce the risk of malpractice suits. Communication in the urban clinical setting comes with a unique set of difficulties. The sociocultural differences between doctor and patient tend to be more pronounced, the interactions with patients more short-term, and the resulting medical encounters of a more impersonal nature. Physicians and patients frequently differ on role expectations for one another. It is nevertheless possible to effect successful communication in the urban medical environment and strengthen the partnership-the "social system"-that exists between doctor and patient. The Miles Institute for Health Care Communication has developed a model, known as the ABCDE approach, that may help facilitate communication in the urban setting. In this article the techniques of the ABCDE model are summarized and a case study is used to show how these techniques might be applied.