ABC of clinical communication / edited by Nicola Cooper, MBChB, FAcadMEd, FRCPE, FRACP, John Frain, MBChB, MSc, FRCGP, DGM, DCH, DRCOG, PGDipCard.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Clinical communication underpins safe patient care. The effective health professional sees illness through the patient's eyes and understands what matters most to him or her. Effectiveness means gathering hard clinical data about the physical changes affecting the patient, understanding why the patient is concerned, conveying this to other health care professionals and involving the patient at every stage of management decisions. The evidence for good clinical communication is well established, although there are challenges. While listening is the basis of sound diagnosis and clinical reasoning, its absence affects patient outcomes particularly when patients are not permitted to make their concerns known or when there are gaps in information flow or communication between the professionals caring for them.