Get Closer to Your Patient With Touch
BENJAMIN BARANKIN, MD, FRCPC, FAAD discusses the importance and impact of appropriate patient touch.
What We're Taught
Our teachers warn us not to touch the patient throughout medical school, residency, and clinical practice. Medical societies regularly remind us of the importance of not touching our patients. That is, at least inappropriately.
"While telling the patient it was not con …
BENJAMIN BARANKIN, MD, FRCPC, FAAD discusses the importance and impact of appropriate patient touch.
What We're Taught
Our teachers warn us not to touch the patient throughout medical school, residency, and clinical practice. Medical societies regularly remind us of the importance of not touching our patients. That is, at least inappropriately.
"While telling the patient it was not con … 
Residency is an exceedingly busy and exciting time focused on preparing us to enter the workforce and make a meaningful contribution to our patients’ lives and maybe even our specialty overall. Three years go by in an instant, so no surprise that certain integral but understated elements are needed to move out of the protective cocoon of residency into the real world. Something that I know a few … 
An Introduction and a Handshake
My number one piece of advice for graduating dermatologists is connect with your patients. Connect well. Learn about them, learn a little bit about their personal life, their family and that really helps cement your therapeutic connection. The other thing is, sit down! When you go in a room, sit down and listen to your patient. The other thing I like to do, which … 
The first time someone called me a thought leader I did a double take.
I knew there were thought leaders out there, a host of doctors I respected and looked to for guidance and support. I knew that when they spoke I could count on their words, they loved to teach, were generous with their time, and they participated in academic activities like speaking at meetings, publishing papers and serving … 
Part 1 of 2
phra·se·ol·o·gy [frāzēˈäləjē] (noun): a mode of expression, especially one characteristic of a particular speaker or writer.
Now that I have been an attending dermatologist for more than five years, I have had the opportunity to reflect upon what I wish I would have known as a resident and as a new attending physician. In my attempt to provide unique new insight … 