Communications skills cut malpractice risk.

The most important reason a patient with a bad outcome decides to sue his or her doctor for malpractice is not a lapse in the quality of care or medical negligence, but how the physician talks with the patient, a recent study shows. Previous research dispelled the presumed link between malpractice suits and clinical errors, which can be difficult for a patient to detect. The study of how physicians communicate with patients during office visits has documented specific conversational behaviors that differed between primary care physicians who never were sued and those with a history of malpractice claims.

"Effective communication enhances patient satisfaction and health outcomes," indicates Wendy Levinson, professor of medicine and section chief of general internal medicine at the University of Chicago (Ill.) Medical Center. "On the other hand, poor communication often leads to patient dissatisfaction." The combination of a bad outcome and patient unhappiness "is a recipe for litigation."

This study discovered that the process and tone of how physicians talk with patients may be even more important than what they say. Although the researchers found no association between malpractice claims and the content of the doctor-patient conversation, they did find a strong link between lawsuits and shortcomings in how that content was presented...