Difficult Seasons

Habits for Effectiveness

An article in the New York Times entitled “Six Habits of Highly Effective Physicians” by Dr. Michael Kahn caught my attention this week thanks to a note from Paul Riddle at Lifeline Chaplaincy.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the title.

Maybe things like keeping current on the literature, attending conferences, seeking help from other physicians, tracking their cure rates, and other similar things lwould be in the list.

Turns out that Dr. Kahn’s list had things in it that were much more important.

• Ask permission to enter the room; wait for an answer.

• Introduce yourself; show your ID badge.

• Shake hands.

• Sit down. Smile if appropriate.

• Explain your role on the health care team.

• Ask how the patient feels about being in the hospital.

So those are the six habits of highly effective physicians.  Interesting, because it asks the physician to do something very basic — show respect for the patient as a fellow human being.  And doing that makes them highly effective as healers.

So what about you and what you do?  Is there a similar list that makes you highly effective?  Or does your list look more like the one I started — keeping up with the latest advancements, etc.?

Today might be a good time to make or review that list.

Tags: courtesy, effectiveness, respect

This entry was posted on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 4:52 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.