Effective communication with patients during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction. The COVID-19 pandemic caused that many outpatient clinics implement telemedical consultations. It requires from the physician special skills when providing information during a phone call. Even though there is no possibility of physical examination on such occasions, we need to obtain as much information as possible from the patient or his family members and provide them with instructions that can be understood and applied in practice. Aim. The aim of the article is to review available publications about doctor-patient communication. Materials and methods. The Pubmed database was searched with use of the phrases: ’doctor-patient communication skills” and “storytelling; doctor-patient communication’ in November 2022. Results. Despite obstacles in providing good healthcare for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are effective methods of obtaining a lot of information from the patient and provide him with easy-to-understand messages to take home. Storytelling is one of the methods of visualizing the disease and sometimes may improve patient’s mood. Conclusions. Telemedical consultations can be helpful if we spend enough time talking to the patient and provide him with information in an understandable format. Keywords: communication, COVID-19 pandemic, doctor-patient communication skills.