PULLMAN, Wash. – Estimations of the time a doctor spends one-on-one with a patient range from 7 to 20 minutes. That’s a short time to share all the information needed for the healthcare professional to do his or her job well and for the patient to feel satisfied.
Miscommunication due to cultural differences – in how the parties view healthcare, doctor and patient roles and relationships, and talking about health in general – adds to the confusion.
Jeff Peterson, communication associate professor at Washington State University, will discuss miscommunication between mostly white doctors and their patients of other ethnic groups at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, in CUE 203, as part of the Common Reading Tuesdays lecture series.
Common Reading Tuesdays feature topics tied to the book used by freshmen in dozens of first-year classes. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” by Rebecca Skloot, raises issues about race, culture, economics, ethics and more. For more information, visit http://CommonReading.wsu.edu.