Are you a victim of the 20 second problem? Does your doctor listen to your whole story or does she interrupt you before you are done?

When the doctor says, “What brought you here today?” Does the doctor listen or does she interrupt as you begin to tell your story? If the doctor interrupts you, you are the victim of the 20 second problem. This is a common problem that has been researched over the years. Now, the doctor isn’t being rude, she is only asking clarifying questions such as: what kind of pain and how much pain and how long have you had this pain? These are important questions, but asking them too soon gets in the way of the doctor hearing the whole story. Once the doctor begins asking her questions, she may forget to come back and listen to the rest of your concerns. Without hearing the whole story, she may misdiagnose or may start heading down the wrong path because she has missed some important details.

Doctors don’t realize that this behavior will lead to the thing they hate that patients do. That is when the patient says the, “Oh by the way” question or the “One more thing doctor” question. This is the last question you ask before the doctor walks out the door. This drives the doctor crazy because they’ve already spent their time with you and are ready to move onto the next patient. But many times, the reason you have the “One more thing doctor” question is, because you weren’t allowed to ask everything at the beginning of the appointment.

So what can you do? Tell the doctor that you won’t ask one more question at the end of the appointment if she’ll take the time to listen to your whole story at the beginning of the appointment. Let her know that it will only take a minute or so for you to explain why you’ve come to the doctor’s office that day. Research has shown that all it takes is one to two minutes for the patient to get their whole story out. Now this may feel like an eternity to the doctor, but it really works to decrease medical errors, improve medical outcomes and to increase patient satisfaction.

I also recommend that you bring in a prioritized list of questions so the doctor will know what you’re there to talk about. Make sure you mention the most important items first. The doctor doesn’t have forever with you so make it easier for the doctor to help you by being prepared and getting right to the point. You can also print out the sister blog piece under the healthcare professionals category to take to your doctor’s office. It is titled, “Overcoming the 20 second problem or How I learned to save time.”

Have a kind and respectful day.