CASE PRESENT WITH THREE HEADLINES IN MIND

Fewer words carry more credibility.  What?  Who says so?  Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of our Founding Fathers who supported this maxim.  He once began a letter to a friend with an apology, paraphrased, “Please forgive the length of this letter.  If I had more time, it would be briefer.”  Franklin understood that verbosity can be a problem for both the reader or listener and the writer or speaker.  My point is that taking time to trim excess verbiage from your case presentations will assure that your words carry weight and clearly convey your diagnosis.  Wordiness can make listeners, your patients in this case, get so caught up in trying to decipher what you are saying that they simply stop listening.

Patients generally want to know three things during a case presentation:  (1) What’s wrong? (Explained in layman’s terms, please!): (2) Can you fix it? and (3) How much will it cost?”  Case present with these three questions in mind.  Elaborate only in answer to the patient’s questions.

Several years ago I heard an amusing lead-in for a speech at a Rotary club meeting.  The speaker began:  “A recent article stated the preamble to the Declaration of Independence contained 300 words, the Ten Commandments, 297 words, the Gettysburg Address, 267, and the Lord’s Prayer comes in at just under 100 words.  A federal government report on the price of cabbages in south Alabama allegedly contains 29,911 words.  So this morning, I will confine my remarks to somewhere between the Lord’s Prayer and the price of cabbages.”  I suggest you confine your case presentations to only the necessary number of words to clearly explain the diagnosis and necessary treatment.  Let an experienced staff member handle the “How much will it cost?” discussion.

In a case presentation, express your thoughts succinctly.  Patients’ acceptance of recommended treatment will increase as a result.