time actively listening to the responses from

the patient. Often physicians formulate their next question

without listening to and interpreting the answer to
the previous inquiry. Obtaining a good patient history is,
in itself, an art that requires experience and patience. I
vividly recall one of my mentors stating that all patients
come to your offi ce and tell you exactly what is wrong
with them when they answer but four or fi ve questions.
Our task is to decipher their answers to those few
questions.
Time is perhaps the most valuable—and least available—
commodity in our medical lives in the 21st century.
We employ physician extenders to help our effi ciency
and we ask patients to fi ll out reams of paperwork with
numerous questions while we are seeing another patient.
We thus lose the advantage of directly listening to our
patient, observing their expressions and interpreting their
body language. Each of these facets can