I’ve always thought that good bedside manner, like personality, is something you can’t learn.

So did Pauline Chen, but in her latest NY Times piece, she talks about a study that show us otherwise.

After an 18-month period where doctors met twice a month to practice skills designed to enhance compassion, or “reflected on their own work through discussion and narrative writing,” they outscored the controls when measured on things like listening to others, teaching communication skills to medical students and residents, and adopting caring attitudes towards patients.

The current environment encourages quantity, often resulting in rushed patient encounters. Perhaps if basic bedside manner techniques can be learned – such as sitting down when talking to patients, looking at them in the eye, or not typing on a computer when they’re talking – patient satisfaction can improve, despite abbreviated visits.