Dr Angie Cucchi, Lecturer in Psychotherapy and Counselling, has co-written an article in the academic journal Heliyon on why medicine depends on solid interpersonal skills.
Her study, undertaken in Iraq’s Baghdad Teaching Hospital, showed that patients were much more satisfied when their doctors displayed rapport, compassion, genuineness, respect, and privacy.
The study also showed that satisfaction scores also improved as doctors became more advanced in their fields, indicating that they develop better communication skills over time.
‘It can be argued that, as exposure to patients, knowledge and years of service accumulate, physicians might become more acutely aware of the various aspects of communication. These results highlight the utmost importance of continuing to improve communication skills curricula in medical training,’ the authors write.
