ABSTRACT
Growing interest in 'medical communication', particularly since the 1970s, has been driven by countless stories of poor physician communication, by new legal and ethical underpinnings of informed consent, and by growing emphasis on patient-centred care. Vigorous voices like Norman Cousins, a spokesperson for countless patients, along with extensive social science research, have focused particular attention on communication as the heart of effective physician-patient relationships.2 Cousins adds to the above quote that, in his contacts with patients, he had been made aware of the frequency with which they seem frightened, confused or immobilised as the result of encounters with healthcare practitioners. He acknowledges that one problem may be their own failures in understanding, but he was nevertheless struck by the frequent impairment of patient and physician relationships because of careless communication.
