Is bad bedside manner a conscious decision on the doctor’s part?

Toronto Star:

Bad bedside manner — when a health-care practitioner fails to see the patient as human — can make or break an already complex relationship.

Patients crave a deep relationship, full of empathy and trust, with their doctor or nurse. Such a relationship, however, is sometimes lacking in the medical field.

Patients complain that doctors or nurses sometimes talk down to them, forgetting they have a family, feelings and concerns.

What is the psychology behind a bad bedside manner? And is it a conscious or subconscious decision by the doctor?

DEHUMANIZATION

Adam Waytz, an assistant professor at Northwestern University, says bad bedside manner — or what he describes as dehumanization — happens for a variety of reasons, from psychological demands placed on medical practitioners to the disparities in power in the doctor-patient relationship.

As well, technology creates psychological distance between doctors and patients, says Waytz.

“A lot of medical decision-making involves thinking in very mechanical terms and how to problem solve and fix particular issues without recognizing the feelings the person is experiencing,” Waytz says, adding it is often not a conscious decision on the practitioner’s part.

The social psychologist recently published a study with Harvard’s Omar Sultan Haque that looked at the psychological factors that contribute to dehumanization in medicine.

It suggests getting rid of scrubs and gowns to encourage a better sense of individuality, and reminding medical staff of the patient’s hobbies, occupation and family.

“The essence of dehumanization is the denial of a distinctively human mind to another person,” the authors write in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.

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