APMA News - January/February 2022 - 22

'SOFT SKILLS'
Concrete Tips to Improve Your
In the November-December 2021 issue of APMA
News, we shared a new resource from APMA
designed to help members hone their " soft skills " -
empathy, communication, leadership, and more.
Clear communication, empathy, and strong leadership
have a proven impact on clinical outcomes,
so enhancing these skills is key to your success as
a physician.
Improving soft skills can be more challenging
than it sounds, however. M. Barton Laws, PhD,
a medical sociologist at Brown University who
researches provider-patient relationships, noted
that empathy is a difficult concept to define and
measure. " I can say it's important to be empathetic,
but that wouldn't mean much, " he said.
We asked Dr. Laws to outline some tangible
steps physicians can take to improve their soft
skills and enhance patient agency. Read on to
learn more.
Practical Application, Sample Scripts
Conventionally, a medical encounter is about one
issue (e.g., " Should I have this surgery or not? " ).
Usually, however, multiple decisions are made
during an appointment. Without careful planning,
22
apmanews
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
an encounter can devolve into a disorganized
conversation that the patient doesn't process.
The more information providers deliver, the less
patients remember. It is not uncommon, said Dr.
Laws, for a patient's concerns to never be raised.
To avoid these pitfalls, Dr. Laws recommends that
podiatrists get organized and set the agenda for
the encounter at the start of the visit.
Often, the patient begins with an information
dump, and in the interest of time and focus, the
provider interrupts and details are lost.
What to say: " What are your concerns today? "
or " What would you like to talk about? " When the
patient is finished speaking, ask, " Okay, is there
anything else? " -and then listen.
Then say: " Okay, I got three things you said.
There are a few things I want to talk about in addition
to that. " This statement is important because
when people participate more in decision-making,
they are more likely to remember things, and
outcomes are more meaningful and positive for
the patient.
There are risks and benefits with any intervention,
so it is important to tell patients about
alternatives. Ask them how they want to make the

APMA News - January/February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APMA News - January/February 2022

Contents
APMA News - January/February 2022 - Cover1
APMA News - January/February 2022 - Cover2
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 3
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 4
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 5
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 6
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 7
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 8
APMA News - January/February 2022 - Contents
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 10
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 11
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 12
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 13
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 14
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APMA News - January/February 2022 - 77
APMA News - January/February 2022 - 78
APMA News - January/February 2022 - Cover3
APMA News - January/February 2022 - Cover4
APMA News - January/February 2022 - A1
APMA News - January/February 2022 - A2
APMA News - January/February 2022 - A3
APMA News - January/February 2022 - A4
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