Six Strategies to Reinvigorate the Doctor-Patient Bedside Encounter - News Center

"Rushed physicians and medical trainees are spending less time with patients, leading to diagnostic errors, poor patient outcomes and increased costs in healthcare. The influx of AI and other new technology has led to a decline in modern medical trainees' fundamental bedside skills and a weakening of the doctor-patient relationship. There is a lack of empathy and an increase in physician stress and burnout. The list goes on."

""An appropriate physical exam can help avoid the need for additional diagnostic testing, yet research has shown the most commonly reported error in the physical exam is simply that the exam was never performed," said corresponding author Brian Garibaldi, MD, MEd, a nationally recognized expert in bedside teaching and the inaugural director of Northwestern University's new Center for Bedside Medicine."

""Every day, there's more information coming out about technology and AI, and the more that people use these tools, the more they realize the primary information we get from patients during the history and physical exam is increasingly critical to the decisions we make. There's only so much tech can do without the correct inputs from humans - both physicians and patients," said Garibaldi, who is also the Charles Horace Mayo Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical"

Modern clinical practice features shorter patient interactions, eroding bedside skills and contributing to diagnostic errors, poorer outcomes, and higher costs. Widespread adoption of AI and new technologies has further reduced emphasis on history-taking and the physical exam, weakened the doctor-patient relationship, and increased clinician stress and burnout. Restoring bedside medicine requires concrete interventions to prioritize direct patient contact, teach and model physical-exam techniques, and integrate human-derived clinical inputs with technological tools. Six practical strategies provide clinicians and educators with actionable guidance to rebuild clinical skills, improve diagnostic accuracy, and strengthen empathy and trust in patient care.

Read at News Center