Communication
Communication is perhaps the most important part of being a doctor. It doesn't matter if you are smarter than your peers if you can't communicate important information effectively to your patients. Your patients will judge you based on how you interact with them. Unfortunately, in most institutions there is no proper training given to students in this area. Effective communication is more art than science. It is difficult to describe but you know it when you see it. Some are more natural at it than others but regardless of your personality, it takes a lot of effort to become good at it. Dealing with emergencies, death etc is never easy. Patients will refuse care/certain treatments all the time. Some are not too serious while others can be life threateningly stupid. Most of the time, people will make bad decisions because they haven't been properly informed of the consequences. It is essential to avoid confusion in this regard. What I know about communication mostl