title: Keeping our feet on the ground: we need to be aware of the dangers of losing focus on patients.
abstract: Doctors in training are susceptible to thinking themselves more exceptional than reality demonstrates. This tendency, combined with the many pressures of medical training, can lead to a break down in communication with patients. Reminding ourselves of the reality of our role could help us reflect on how we can best benefit them. One important way of doing this is to preserve the aspect of professionalism that health care systems often make difficult--communication.
authors.affiliation: King's College Hospital, London, UK. jasononeale@btopenworld.com
authors.forename: Jason O'Neale
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Roach
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations