 Female doctors are better than their male counterparts at breaking bad news to patients, a study has suggested.
Mock consultations using actors were videotaped by psychologists from the Universities of Coventry, Warwick and Leicester. They found that male doctors were more likely to deliver the bad news in an abrupt style and include the patient in discussions about treatment. The study's authors say that more training may be needed in future. Hospital doctors in the past have received little training in the correct techniques for telling a patient about a serious illness - most of their expertise comes from experience. The modern suggestion is that rather than simply delivering the news and telling the patient what treatment would follow - and its likely outcome - the consultation should be "patient-centred". This means that there should be full opportunity for the patient to discuss fears and concerns. It has always been suspected that women typically have a more "empathic" approach - which is better suited to this kind of consultation, while many men are more likely to want to "stick to the facts". The research, presented at the British Psychological Society's conference, backs this up. The verbal behaviour and body language of 32 male and 12 female doctors taking part in videotaped mock consultations was examined by psychologists. The research suggested that women doctors had "superior communication skills". Sheila Bonas, from the University of Leicester, said that even with a relatively small number of interviews, the differences were significant. She said: "We did not find that every female doctor had better communication skills than every male doctor, and we wouldn't like to suggest this. "However, it's possible that some male doctors might benefit from a little extra training on this issue." She said that some patients actually preferred the more abrupt style of consultation - but that a modern doctor should be able to spot this and make the necessary adjustments to his or her approach. (Agencies) | 研究表明：在告诉病人坏消息时，女医生比男医生做得更好。 考文垂、华威和莱斯特大学的心理学家们拍摄了由演员模拟的医生会诊。他们发现男医生比较容易把坏消息直截了当地告诉患者，并且和病人一起讨论治疗的情况。 该研究的负责人说将来要加强在这方面的培训。 过去，医院的医生很少接受此类培训，即运用正确的技巧向重病患者讲述病情——他们在这方面的知识大部分来自经验。 现在建议医生不要简单地向病人传达病情和如何治疗，以及可能的结果，而应该“以病人为中心”进行会诊。 这就意味着病人应该有足够的机会来讨论他的恐惧和担心。 一直以来，人们觉得较多的“感情”投入是女性所特有的，这一特点更适用于这种会诊，而许多男性比较容易“实话实说”。 英国心理学会大会上提出的研究支持这种猜测。 心理学家分析了参加模拟会诊录像的32位男医生和12位女医生的口头表达和肢体语言。研究表明女医生有“突出的沟通技巧”。 来自莱斯特大学的希拉·博纳说即使从少数几次面谈来看，差异也是很明显的。 她说：“我们并没有发现每一个女医生都比男医生更有沟通技巧。我们也不想做出这样的暗示。” “然而，有些男医生可能会从这方面的一些培训中获益。” 她说确实也有一些病人喜欢更直接的会诊方式--但是一名现代的医生，应该能够发现这一点，并在会诊时做出必要的调整。 （中国日报网站译） |
Updated: 2003-09-10 01:00
