Doctors on average spend only 11 seconds to listen to their patients before interrupting them, findings of a new study have revealed.
Doctors Interrupt 11 Seconds After Their Patients Started To Speak
In a new study , which was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine on July 2, researchers assessed the first few minutes of consultations between 112 patients and their doctors.
The consultations were videotaped in different clinics in the United States, and took place between the years 2008 and 2015.
Study researcher Naykky Singh Ospina, from the University of Florida, and colleagues noted if doctors invited their patients to set the agenda by asking them questions such as "How are you?" or "What can I do for you?" They also noted if the patients were interrupted while answering these questions and in what manner.
Singh Ospina and her team observed that the doctors only spent 11 seconds on average to listen to patients give their reason for visiting the clinic before interrupting. They also found that only one in three doctors give their patients ample chance to describe their situation.
Only 36 percent of the patients were likewise able to put their agenda first and for those who had the chance to do so, they were still interrupted 70 percent of the time and on average within 11 seconds after they started to speak.
The researchers observed that the patients who were not interrupted at all where those who completed their opening statements within six seconds.
Primary Care Doctors Vs Specialists
Primary care doctors also tend to provide more time to patients compared with specialists. They are also less likely to interrupt.
"Clinicians seldom elicit the patient's agenda; when they do, they interrupt patients sooner than previously reported. Physicians in specialty care elicited the patient's agenda less often compared to physicians in primary care," the researchers wrote in their study.
The researchers think that specialists skip the introductory step of agenda setting since they are already aware why the patient was referred to them.
Factors That Hinder Patient-Centered Conversations
The researchers said that an interruption, even to clarify or focus, at the early stage of the doctor-patient encounter is less likely to be beneficial for the patient. They cited burnout, time constraints, and not enough training on communicating with patients as factors that affect patient-centred approach in clinical encounters.
"Our results suggest that we are far from achieving patient-centred care," Singh Ospina said.