Medical education often seems biased towards the mastery of examination skills. In the clinical arena, however, its listening to patients describing symptoms rather than physical examination that is central to making the correct diagnosis.
Speaking Clinically is a collection of movies of patients talking frankly and openly about their medical conditions. Collected over more than two decades, the material is entirely unrehearsed and the camera handheld so that nuances of communication are captured in detail.
With cases spanning a broad range of specialist areas, it is anticipated that Speaking Clinically will be useful for medical, dental and nursing students as well as qualified doctors, paramedics, biomedical scientists and the uniformed services.
Hearing from others with the same condition will help patients and their families feel less isolated. Speaking Clinically will allow pharmaceutical industry employees to hear first hand from the patients that their drugs seek to treat.