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When Communication Goes Wrong in Medicine

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When Things Go Wrong In Urology

Abstract

Patient-centered care is essential in the modern practice of medicine and relies on good communication amongst healthcare workers and to patients and their families. Studies have shown that when communication goes wrong, there is an increase in preventable adverse events [1, 2] and approximately 27% of malpractice is due to issues with communication [3]. Indeed, poor communication forms the basis of many NHS complaints, even more so than complaints regarding clinical competence [4, 5]. Interestingly, a previous survey showed that 75% of surgeons deemed that their communication towards their patients was satisfactory compared to only 21% of patients [6]. This shows that there is a clear mismatch to what doctors and patients perceive as a successful consultation in terms of communication.

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Chadda, K.R., Blakey, E.E., Goonewardene, S.S. (2022). When Communication Goes Wrong in Medicine. In: Motiwala, F., Motiwala, H., Goonewardene, S.S. (eds) When Things Go Wrong In Urology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13658-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13658-0_5

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