Identifying existential concerns as an analytical tool: an eye-opener for the doctor.

Existential concerns manifest themselves emotionally in patients. Emotions tend to be transferred between patient and doctor but the underlying existential concerns may remain hidden and obscure for both. If doctors understand that there are always existential concerns behind patients' inquiries it becomes easier to relate to the patient's feelings in an interested and curious way.

Helping doctors to improve the 'Patient's Part' of consultation using the 'Macro-Micro Supervision' teaching method.

A doctor-patient consultation can be viewed as consisting of three parts: Patient's Part, Doctor's Part and Shared Part. Macro-Micro Supervision is a teaching method developed to train doctors in consultation techniques for the initial Patient's Part and to become more patient-centred. Doctors find the Patient's Part of our consultation method the most difficult.

Developing communication skills for the general practice consultation process.

Medical curriculum revisions all over the world in the last 20 years have increased the number of teaching hours in communication skills. This article describes a concrete communication skills teaching programme focused on general practice. Since the spring of 1992, more than 2,000 physicians from Denmark, Sweden and Finland have attended courses within this programme in Kalymnos, Greece.

[Supervision--why?].

In their work, doctors are exposed to strong emotions on the part of their patients. They need to learn to listen and not interrupt them; in general, after each consultation they focus on whatever was not accomplished. Therefore doctors need a secure environment in which they can examine common work conditions, as well as their own strengths and weaknesses, with colleagures in order to discover new ways of doing things.