Doctors interrupt, stop listening to their patients 11 seconds in a conversation

Physicians spend an average of 11 seconds listening to their patients before interrupting them, revealed the results of a new study

Doctors interrupt 11 seconds after their patients started talking [19659003]. published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine on July 2, researchers evaluated the first minutes of consultations between 112 patients and their doctors.

Consultations were videotaped in various clinics in the United States, and took

Researcher Naykky Singh Ospina, of the University of Florida, and colleagues noted that physicians were inviting their Patients set the agenda by asking them questions such as "How are you?" Can I do for you? "They also noted whether patients were interrupted by answering these questions and in what way."

Singh Ospina and his team observed that doctors spent only 11 seconds on a hearing. gives the reason for their visit to the clinic before interrupting them.They also found that only one in three doctors gave their patients ample opportunity to describe their situation.

Only 36% of patients were also able to to put their agenda first and for those who had the chance to do so, they were still interrupted 70 percent of the time and averaged within 11 seconds after they started talking.

Researchers observed that patients who were not at all interrupted were those who completed their opening statement within six seconds.

Primary Care Physicians and Specialists

specialists, and they are also less likely to interrupt.

"Clinicians rarely elicit the patient's agenda; when they do, they interrupt patients earlier than previously reported. Specialist medical specialists have less often compared the patient's program to that of primary care physicians, "the researchers wrote in their study.

The researchers believe that the specialists ignore the initial stage of the program's establishment.

Factors That Hinder Patient-Centered Conversations

The researchers stated that an interruption, even to clarify or focus, early in the doctor-patient encounter is less likely to be beneficial for the patient. They mentioned burnout, time constraints and insufficient training on communicating with patients as factors influencing the patient-centered approach during clinical consultations. "Our findings suggest that we are far from getting patient-centered care," says Singh Ospina.