The background dialogue of an appointment

How’s your patter? Mine has been so well rehearsed it’s become second nature.

What do I mean by patter? It’s the background dialogue of an appointment. The small talk you make during the exam. The stock phrases and canned jokes to reduce tension and get people to feel more comfortable. It can be jokes about kids, the parking at your building, maybe some self-deprecating humor about my lack of fashion sense ... They may all seem like little things, but patter is critical to developing a relationship with a patient. It’s outside the framework of the routine history and exam, but every bit as important.

Helping patients feel at ease with you isn’t taught in medical school, more something that comes with experience. If they’re terrified over the visit, keeping them that way isn’t going to help you get details of what ails them.

So we use what I call "patter" – small talk to fill in the cracks of the visit. Asking about families, how long they’ve lived here, if they had trouble finding my office, etc., adds a human dimension to the visit. If the patient becomes more comfortable, hopefully you’ll be able to get better clues to figure out the case.

Seeing a new doctor is always a stressful event for most, and if it’s to see specialist, like myself, it means something is going on that the regular internist hasn’t been able to solve. That alone ups the anxiety level a bit. Unless you have a way to defuse patients, they may be too nervous to give you a good history, or forget simple details you need. Even talking about something simple, like Phoenix’s notoriously hot weather, can be a boon to getting a better history.

It becomes a work in progress during each patient’s visit, depending on how they respond, and then is quietly filed away in your mind for the next visit.

So, how’s your patter? The next show starts several times a day.

Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.

How’s your patter? Mine has been so well rehearsed it’s become second nature.

What do I mean by patter? It’s the background dialogue of an appointment. The small talk you make during the exam. The stock phrases and canned jokes to reduce tension and get people to feel more comfortable. It can be jokes about kids, the parking at your building, maybe some self-deprecating humor about my lack of fashion sense ... They may all seem like little things, but patter is critical to developing a relationship with a patient. It’s outside the framework of the routine history and exam, but every bit as important.

Helping patients feel at ease with you isn’t taught in medical school, more something that comes with experience. If they’re terrified over the visit, keeping them that way isn’t going to help you get details of what ails them.

So we use what I call "patter" – small talk to fill in the cracks of the visit. Asking about families, how long they’ve lived here, if they had trouble finding my office, etc., adds a human dimension to the visit. If the patient becomes more comfortable, hopefully you’ll be able to get better clues to figure out the case.

Seeing a new doctor is always a stressful event for most, and if it’s to see specialist, like myself, it means something is going on that the regular internist hasn’t been able to solve. That alone ups the anxiety level a bit. Unless you have a way to defuse patients, they may be too nervous to give you a good history, or forget simple details you need. Even talking about something simple, like Phoenix’s notoriously hot weather, can be a boon to getting a better history.

It becomes a work in progress during each patient’s visit, depending on how they respond, and then is quietly filed away in your mind for the next visit.

So, how’s your patter? The next show starts several times a day.

Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.

How’s your patter? Mine has been so well rehearsed it’s become second nature.

What do I mean by patter? It’s the background dialogue of an appointment. The small talk you make during the exam. The stock phrases and canned jokes to reduce tension and get people to feel more comfortable. It can be jokes about kids, the parking at your building, maybe some self-deprecating humor about my lack of fashion sense ... They may all seem like little things, but patter is critical to developing a relationship with a patient. It’s outside the framework of the routine history and exam, but every bit as important.

Helping patients feel at ease with you isn’t taught in medical school, more something that comes with experience. If they’re terrified over the visit, keeping them that way isn’t going to help you get details of what ails them.

So we use what I call "patter" – small talk to fill in the cracks of the visit. Asking about families, how long they’ve lived here, if they had trouble finding my office, etc., adds a human dimension to the visit. If the patient becomes more comfortable, hopefully you’ll be able to get better clues to figure out the case.

Seeing a new doctor is always a stressful event for most, and if it’s to see specialist, like myself, it means something is going on that the regular internist hasn’t been able to solve. That alone ups the anxiety level a bit. Unless you have a way to defuse patients, they may be too nervous to give you a good history, or forget simple details you need. Even talking about something simple, like Phoenix’s notoriously hot weather, can be a boon to getting a better history.

It becomes a work in progress during each patient’s visit, depending on how they respond, and then is quietly filed away in your mind for the next visit.

So, how’s your patter? The next show starts several times a day.

Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.