title: A time to listen.
abstract: As methods of health care delivery, and advances in technology change our lives and practices, an essential element of personal and professional relationships has become neglected. We have stopped listening to each other, to our patients, and to ourselves; we have lost the art of communication. The essential aspects of optimal communication and the power of nonverbal signals are reviewed. Only by recognizing the importance of communication in surgical education, practice, and in fact in all aspects of daily life, will this encroaching societal deafness be rebuffed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Baystate Medical Center, and Tufts University School of Medicine, Springfield, Massachusetts 01199, USA.
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Coe
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D013502:General Surgery; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations