 I recently attended a conference on diabetes where the presenter
stressed the importance of getting patients to check their blood sugars
three times per day, in keeping with the latest clinical guidelines.
Almost immediately the speaker received a strong objection from one
physician in the audience. "We can't get our patients to check their
blood sugars that often," he protested. "We're lucky to get them to
check once a day!" In her response, the presenter said that to get patients to
change their behavior, whether in the context of smoking cessation or
diabetes management, there is an element of "selling" that's required
of the physician. In other words, the physician has to recognize the
opportunity for intervention, reframe it in a way that makes it
meaningful to the patient and generate a sufficient sense of urgency to
compel the patient to take action. At the same time, the physician has
to maintain a partnership with the patient, based on trust and
understanding.
In many ways, this is the same approach
taken by great salespeople. Although that comparison may make some
physicians uncomfortable, we can find value in examining how other
fields have approached similar challenges. What follows are five key
lessons from the sales profession that have the potential to strengthen
physician-patient relationships, improve patient satisfaction and
enhance patient compliance. 1. Establish a Sense of Trust
This is a crucial first step in any patient encounter. In their book Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence,
Daniel Goleman and his colleagues outline the importance of trust in
conveying a message successfully. He explains that as an event takes
place, such as hearing a recommendation or a sales pitch, the amygdala
(which produces our "fight-or-flight" response) filters the perceived
event and attaches an emotional context to it. If the amygdala
perceives the event to be unsafe, either physically or psychologically,
then it initiates an appropriate response. This response ultimately
interrupts the path of the incoming information so that it does not
reach the prefrontal cortex effectively.
 Imagine a
pharmaceutical representative presenting information to you in a
fashion that makes you feel manipulated. Psychologically, you perceive
a threat, which triggers a response from your amygdala. Goleman calls
this process an "amygdala hijack." From this point on, the remainder of
the representative's message becomes irrelevant, as it never engages
the prefrontal cortex and the information is not absorbed.
If
we are to have any hope of having our message heard and understood by
our patients, we need to become skilled at not triggering a state of
psychological fear. To do so means we must learn to be perceptive
listeners and careful observers of small details that give us a glimpse
into the lives of patients and enable us to understand their values,
goals, challenges and interests over time. Effective salespeople know
this tactic, and they gather pieces of important information about
their customers. Effective physicians must do the same, using the
skills in the next step.
2. Uncover Patients' Actual Needs
Perhaps
the most critical skill in uncovering the needs of a client or patient
is the skill of inquiry. Central to good dialogue, inquiry involves
asking questions with a spirit of curiosity and with a goal of trying
to understand how others perceive the world around them. Great
salespeople probe to meet customer expectations and to see how they can
be of assistance in the future. In essence, they establish themselves
as trusted partners and lay the foundation for future business, even if
they may not be of immediate assistance. |
