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Role of Physical Touch During Patient Examination in Dermatology
TAKE-HOME MESSAGE
- This global study evaluated the prevalence of touch during dermatology examinations and its impact on patient satisfaction and treatment compliance. Approximately 1 in 4 patients reported not being touched by their physician. The reasons for not being touched by a physician included lack of necessity (72.3%), unknown causes (15.7%), physician reserved personality (7.2%), physician discomfort (7.2%), and disgust (3.3%). More women than men generally welcome their doctor's touch; however, this study showed that women were more likely to not be touched by their physician.
- In dermatology examinations, physical touch aids in the diagnosis and non-verbal communication and is vital for compassionate and effective patient care.
abstract
This abstract is available on the publisher's site.
Access this abstract nowTouch is an important part of physicians' interaction with patients. However, the contextually sensitive balance between risk and benefits add layers of complexity. We conducted a worldwide study on the prevalence of touch during dermatology examinations and the effect of touch on patient satisfaction and treatment compliance.
Additional Info
Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology: JEADV
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
The role of physical touch during patient examination in dermatology: a worldwide study in 20 countries
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2023 Nov 01;[EPub Ahead of Print], B Halioua, C Le Roux-Villet, C Baissac, Y Ben Hayoun, N Perez Cullell, C Taieb, MA Richard, M Saint Aroman, C SkayemFrom MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
One of the things I missed most during the pandemic lockdown, when most examinations were done via telemedicine, was the opportunity for physical touch during examinations. I certainly don’t use physical touch with every patient, and it is important to make a judgment of whether it might be perceived as intrusive. At the same time, physical touch is a key component of many examinations, most notably if palpation is used to determine whether there are deeper components of a skin disorder. Beyond its diagnostic purpose, touch during a patient visit can have other meanings. For some, particularly for those in whom skin disease causes stigma, physical touch can be an extremely important bedside tool for showing compassion and care. Although not always involving direct touch, I think of how often patients are pleased when I use a dermatoscope to get very close and really inspect their problem. So many have commented that this shows that I haven't just walked in the room and “taken a look,” but rather taken the time to get very close physically and look more closely at their skin condition.
Halioua et al used a data set, the ALL Project, and surveyed more than a thousand patients about satisfaction, using patient touch (PT) versus no PT as a key variable. Overall, nearly two-third of the patients had PT during their encounter but the percent varied widely by country, with the lowest percentage (48%) in South Korea and the highest (76%) in Brazil. PT varied by specialty with surgery and allergy having the highest rates of patient touch. Those patients who had PT were significantly more likely to be satisfied with their care than no PT patients. The authors conclude that rather than avoiding PT because of concerns of misinterpretation, touch should be used to foster these relationships and improve patient communication. It would certainly be interesting to see if there are certain skin conditions where PT can be most beneficial. I hope that the authors or others will consider undertaking such research.