Navigating Difficult Conversations in Dermatology Clinics
Difficult conversations are a routine part of dermatology. They are especially tricky in our specialty because of the time pressure in a full clinic (often 30+ patients a day) and the visual, often deeply personal, nature of skin disease. Medical school teaches universal communication techniques, such as active listening, teach-back, agenda setting, and shared decision-making, that are necessary t …
Difficult conversations are a routine part of dermatology. They are especially tricky in our specialty because of the time pressure in a full clinic (often 30+ patients a day) and the visual, often deeply personal, nature of skin disease. Medical school teaches universal communication techniques, such as active listening, teach-back, agenda setting, and shared decision-making, that are necessary t … Continue reading "Navigating Difficult Conversations in Dermatology Clinics"
My colleagues often joke about how much my patients “love me.”
Over the years, I’ve come to think that what they are really seeing in my patients is a profound commitment to the therapeutic relationship: a willingness to trust the plan we have laid out and a deep engagement in their own care, even when visits are short and clinic is moving fast.
For physicians, that same commitment is … 
ODAC Conference Co-Chair Susan Weinkle, MD, FAAD, is a scientist at heart, which means she’s frequently conducting aesthetic experiments on herself. In this Next Steps in Derm video interview, conducted in partnership with the ODAC Dermatology Conference, Dr. Weinkle shares some of the lessons she’s learned in 25 years of aesthetic self-treatment. For Dr. Weinkle, it’s meant admitting her se …