Episode 16: What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear — Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD MedPEP

Dr. Marie Curious and MedPEP host Dr. Schwab have a rich and engaging
conversation on the doctor-patient relationship with primary care physician
and writer Dr. Danielle Ofri. The discussion contains numerous clinical
pearls, some of which are drawn from Dr. Ofri’s experiences learning to
play the cello as an adult. She reflects on her own frustrations with
electronic medical records in a way that steers Marie in the direction of
valuing and savoring the time she spends with patients, attentively
listening to their stories, while judiciously and productively managing the
visit length. Dr. Ofri urges physicians to utilize the first few minutes of
each outpatient visit for “full frontal listening.” This helps to win the
patient’s trust while providing hard data that reveals the patient’s most
pressing health concerns. She links this technique of active, empathic
listening to two of the holy grails valued by health care business leaders:
patient satisfaction and patient safety. Dr. Ofri encourages physicians to
adopt a mindset of continuous learning, growth, and professional
development, and views this stance as an antidote to personal and
professional burnout. And finally, Dr. Ofri advises that “if you really
want to feel rejuvenated about medicine, make a house call to one of your
frail patients. It makes you feel good about what you are doing.” Drs.
Curious and Schwab concur with the importance of reconnecting to the
essence of clinical medicine: the doctor-patient relationship.