You're navigating non-verbal cues with diverse patients. How do you prevent misunderstandings from arising?

I don’t accept too many different cultural expectations. The world is too diverse to know everything about everyone’s culture. Doctors don’t have time for this. BUT, I learned some helpful behavior in the last 26 yrs in the international system. It is received well, by Arabs or Americans. First of all: don’t touch your patient impulsively, because you feel sympathy. You have to ask them first. Do not stare all the time into patients’ eyes. Make breaks according to what you are saying. Emphasize your important words or sentences by looking into the pxs eyes and after reassuring they are ok, look away and continue talking. Gestures are ok if not too many. Patients love, when you draw things for better understanding. It means engagement.

Active listening is so important, BUT: if you are a surgeon in a metropolitan hospital, you may not have time for long conversations. You’ll have to lead the patient to answer your questions, so you can act fast for their sake. Tell them politely before they begin to speak (if you are a busy doctor), that you are Dr. X, you want to make the best of the limited time you both have and you will ask some questions, which they should respond to as clearly as possible. Then you should ask for more info. or let them ask. A ‘wow, you are the fastest patient ever! We have some time left for a bit more talking before you go to x-ray.’ This is positive feedback AND your patient knows nows: this doctor has to make decisions about me AND cares about me.

never failed with: - telling the truth according to the intelligence and school degree. In some cultures, relatives want you to lie to their YOUR patient, because ‘it would be too hard for the sick person’. This is not true. Mostly, it is hard for the relatives to deal with the emotions of the patient. That’s where you come in! Your patient has the right to know about themselves. You should send out all except for not more than 2 relatives, which you check quickly about their relation to your px, their capability of understanding and their connection to the rest of the group. This helps a lot with Eastern families. Shortcut: look for the alpha. If your px is the alpha, find out, who the primary caregiver is - ‘don’t know, let’s look it up

right there is nothing to say more, but I need 125 characters. I would have needed that space for the first two questions………..

train assertiveness patients -whether well informed or not- NEED guidance.You won’t trust someone, who can’t stand still for one second, never makes eyecontact or too much eyecontact etc. Your words and body language should be in line. You lean on a wall behind you while speaking. If you are asserting ask openly about their culture, but show boundaries, if it doesn’t fit to the medical service in your country.

I find mindfulness helpful. I pay attention to how I feel in a patient visit as a reflection of the patient. If I’m with a patient and start feeling anxious, it is usually a reflection of the energy they are putting off. If I start feeling defensive, it usually a patient who is upset often because they are frustrated by their condition. This brief moment of reflection goes a long way to being able to guide the patient experience