Dr. Eric B. Larson, an internist and executive director of the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle, expressed little surprise with the findings.
"In acting, you learn techniques to manage your emotions and especially the way you display your emotions," he said. "It is a skill, just like anything, that you can be better or worse at. And being good at it helps you do a better job of caring and healing."
"Patients want and expect to have a warm, understanding human relationship with their physician, where a doctor can feel with the patient the patient's experience," Larson added. "This is what it's all about."
More information
For more on bedside manners, visit the American Medical Association.
SOURCES: Alan Dow, M.D., associate director, residency training, and assistant professor, internal medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, Va.; Eric B. Larson, M.D., internist and executive director, Group Health Center for Health Studies, Seattle, and past president, Society of General Internal Medicine; August 2007, Journal of General Internal Medicine
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