‘Artful Interruptions’ Can Give a Diagnostic Edge

In Capsules of Jan. 25, “Doctors Interrupt Too Quickly, Listen Too Little” strums the strings of frustration of all doctors who cherish the diagnostic process. As your article implies, some doctors are more bent on identifying a “disease” rather than making a “diagnosis” (the process of identifying all factors impacting morbidity and outcome, not just the disease). Indeed, taking a real pause at the start of the patient interview is a sound point for all doctors to ponder. On the other hand, claiming that “they interrupt too quickly” misses the point.

In my practice seeing chronic TMJ and facial pain patients, artful interruption is vitally important in order to flesh out real factors that patients themselves are reluctant to express. If all one needed to do is “listen and spend time with the patient,” any empathetic staff person could be assigned to the job. It is time that we jettison the idea that “interruption” is bad and, instead, focus more on the need for a careful, unrushed search for medical, social and personal factors in the context of the patient’s complaints.

--Dr. WILLIAM K. SOLBERG

Los Angeles