Ô ObivoV brac ?vV, eJ de teJcnh makrhv Life is short, [the] art long
--Hippocrates Pediatric Interviewing: A Practical, Relationship Based
Approach by James Binder is filled with a unique blend of wisdom,
experience, and evidence, which will serve as a guide and as a reminder
that what comes first in the care of the patient is the language and the
silences that are shared between patient and physician. The medical
interview quickly establishes the type of caring relati- ship the two
will share. In this age of electronic medical records,
pay-forperformance, and evidence-based medicine it is easy to lose sight
that medicine is fundamentally about one person who has knowledge and
experience providing care for another individual who is asking for help.
How the physician organizes his or her interactions has an important
impact on the experience and o- comes for both the physician and for the
patient. Dr. Binder presents a conceptual framework with which to
approach interviewing and illustrates this framework with pr- tical
examples from years of teaching and practice. Physicia- intraining will
find this book filled with wisdom and much needed recommendations about
how to approach the medical interview. For those of us who have been in
practice a number of years, Dr. Binder's book can serve as a refreshing
opportunity to reflect in detail about something many of us take for
granted - the c- plexity of the medical interview.