Four core communication skills of highly effective practitioners.

For 40 years, medical researchers have been studying physician-patient interactions, and the results of these studies have yielded three basic conclusions: physician-patient interactions have an impact on patient health, patient and physician satisfaction, adherence to medical recommendations, and malpractice risk; communication is a core clinical skill and an essential component of clinical competence; and appropriate training programs can significantly change medical practitioners' communication knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Many of these findings are applicable to the practice of veterinary medicine.