Doctors are medical professionals, and their strongest motivation is to successfully treat patients. However, patients, as laypeople, cannot assess a doctor's expertise, but they can evaluate the doctor's approach, behavior during diagnosis, examination, or treatment. Most complaints about healthcare personnel do not arise from poor medical care but stem from inappropriate communication. Professional, both expert and human communication with patients and their relatives truly matters. Not only to prevent unnecessary conflicts and complaints but especially because professional communication fosters good relationships between doctors and patients, improves their cooperation (compliance), and most importantly, reduces the amount of stress doctors face in their already demanding work. The communication manual was created by two experienced professionals, practitioners, and authors of several books. After years of active work with patients, doctors, and nurses, they mapped typical challenging communication situations in individual chapters. The book presents them in the form of 18 commented dialogues between a doctor and a patient or relatives. Both authors are psychologists (one with clinical practice) and thus highlight appropriate communication procedures as well as common mistakes that doctors make despite good...
