The Two-Minute Radiologist

Abstract

Brief patient encounters can be challenging for a radiologist on a busy service. We often meet patients for the first time (without the benefit of an established patient-physician relationship), break bad news to patients who are often more comfortable discussing difficult and stressful medical results with their primary care providers, and are asked management-related questions immediately following a brief review of complicated studies. Without dedicated clinic time, these encounters are often considered disruptive to the daily workflow. Our goal in this article is to increase awareness of some steps radiologists can take to make brief patient encounters more effectual and thus foster greater patient satisfaction. 2 It helps to start the conversation by explaining that radiologists play a different role than most clinicians and focusing our discussions on imaging findings and not on detailing the management plan. We outline 6 steps and 4 tips based on our personal experience with brief patient interactions that we found especially effectual.