Rapport

February 23

by Alison

We saw a number of follow-up patients in clinic today.  Our preceptor’s rapport with the patients was excellent and it was obvious how much the patients trust him.  We were also able to watch our preceptor do a new consult and observe how he establishes such a good rapport.  Our preceptor didn’t jump straight into questioning the patient about her medical issues.  Instead, he asked about her personal history and about her family.  He spent a fair bit of time getting to know her before moving on to her medical issues.  When he sees patients in follow-up, he similarly spends a few minutes chatting before addressing their medical concerns. 

With inpatient medicine, we are often so busy and our patients are usually so sick that we aren’t able to spend much time getting to know them.  In ambulatory medicine, the patients are medically stable and are seen over multiple visits, allowing the establishment of rapport to be a primary focus of their care.  From a learning perspective, I was able to see the importance of this rapport and the value it adds to the patients’ care and wellbeing.  It was helpful to observe an initial consult by our preceptor as I feel he provided me with some useful techniques on establishing rapport quickly in an outpatient setting.