ABSTRACT
Medical students are told, "Listen to patients, they will tell you the diagnosis/' Today, however, a number of factors reduce physicians' listening time. These include shorter appointments in the name of "efficiency" and more emphasis on "objective" findings such as laboratory tests and imaging results. Yet patients are not fundamentally interested in tests or X-ray pictures. They want to be understood, feel good, and function well. If these concerns are not addressed, patient satisfaction suffers, root problems are often missed, and, most important, patient health status is not improved.
