The Changing Patient-Doctor Relationship.

Abstract

Feeling as I do that communication via the written word is deteriorating in medicine and that we frequently have the deterioration before our eyes in undergraduate medical students, I see some of the reasons for the criticism that the modern physician is unable or unwilling to communicate with patients and their relatives in ordinary terms which they can understand. They sense that he is aloof. Sometimes he is aloof. Part of this, no doubt, results from the attitude of his teachers. Part comes from the natural difficulty of communicating ideas. The upshot is a considerable clamor against doctors in the lay press, in letters to the editor, and as one meets people. In everyday discussions, our friends are more than willing to issue complaints. Laymen who read Dr. Vorhaus' book on "The Changing Patient-Doctor Relationship" would gain insights to dispel some of their preconceptions and misconceptions. While a detailed study