Hospitals are run by people, and people make mistakes. We don't always listen as well as we should. And yes, we sometimes fail to live up to the expectations of our patients and their family members.
Effective communications between caregivers and patients (and among the caregivers themselves) are not just a matter of politeness. Poor communications raise the risk that something is misunderstood, that something is missed – this can foster medical errors.
Dr. Kronenberg is right to emphasize the importance of caregiver communications. For more on this, see these past postings – Stop me if I say something you don’t understand, The importance of listening, and Whatever became of bedside manner?
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