Shut The F**k Up!
I wasnât planning to do another newsletter so soon, but I was blown away by the response from my first one so I thought I would strike while the iron is hot.
I genuinely thought my newsletter would go straight into most of your junk folders, so it was a really nice surprise to get so much positive feedback and some great suggestions of topics to cover.
So this weeks newsletter is based on suggestions from Alex, Thomas, and Max who all asked me in slightly different ways to talk about how I get patients to believe what I say and/or follow the advice and recommendations I make.
Now trying to get a patient to listen and believe what you have to say can be tricky due to many things such as limited time, shitty working environments, and of course so many differing explanations and recommendations out there these days.
When there is so much variation in opinions and explanations of why things hurt and what the best treatments are, it makes it incredibly difficult for a person in pain to know what to do and who to trust.
However, one of the most effective ways Iâve found to get more people to listen and trust what I have to say is to shut the fuck up!
Listen first!
Over the years, I have learnt that patients listen more to healthcare professionals who first listen to them more.
Giving your patients some space to talk without being interrupted and really listening to them so they feel heard and not rushed is so powerful that its literally a cheat code to getting better results and outcomes.
If you want someone to trust you, like you, and listen to you⌠then shut the fuck up and listen to them first.
18 seconds
This sounds easy right! But it isnât!
A lot of healthcare professionals are really bad at listening and many over-talk and interrupt their patients.
A scoping review of 14 observational studies published in 2022 here found that over 75% of patients seen by a range of healthcare professionals like doctors and physios were interrupted within just 18 seconds of talking!
The main reason for this is the time pressures that most of us feel working in healthcare with our short appointment times and multiple people to see back to back, making us all feel rushed and busy.
However, what I find fascinating is this same research that shows we interrupt patients a lot also shows that when we occasionally donât, patients on average talk for less than 45 seconds with only a few going more than 2 minutes.
This is really useful information for us busy time time-pressured healthcare professionals. Knowing that most patients will not talk for too long means you donât have to interrupt them and it takes some of the pressure off.
Now, donât get me wrong; thereâs always one or two exceptions to every rule, and some patients will talk for 5-10 minutes non-stop.
Usually, I find itâs the older, more socially isolated individual who hasnât talked to another person all week. But my advice here is still shut the fuck up and let them talk, because that talking is probably far more therapeutic than anything else you were going to do with them.
Best Sessions Ever!
Since shutting up more, I have lost count of the number of patients who have told me that was the best session of physiotherapy theyâve ever had⌠and Iâve literally done fuck all except shut up, listened, and demonstrated that I give a shit about their issues.
And that is what we will talk about in my next newletter⌠how to demonstrate you give a shit better.
Until then⌠remember you can go wrong, shutting the fuck up
Adam
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