Communication hub
articles
Ninety Seconds
A worsening doctor-patient communication problem Back in Medical school, we learned that doctors are quick to interrupt patients at the very start of the clinical encounter — my colleagues and I all committed to doing better. Interestingly, that study from the 1980s...
Patients are looking for help, not judgement
How to communicate Canada’s new alcohol guidelines with patients Your patient has just come to an appointment in a panic about their health because of the new alcohol guidelines. What do you do? Canada grasped the world's attention in early 2023 by announcing new...
The Good Goodbye
Last month I closed my practice in the big city because my husband and I bought a house on an island. It was a challenging three-month transition process, yet I had some valuable insights about how doctors can say goodbye to their patients. More than one goodbye....
What’s something you sacrificed to become a doctor?
When I went to Medical school, I sacrificed in ways I did not appreciate until later. I gave up time with loved ones who didn’t always understand my commitment to learning. Friendships suffered, some irreparably. I lost pieces of my spirit to the angry staff...
The four-part closure statement
When I'm working with trainees, many have ideas about starting clinical encounters but few have thought about conclusions. When I was in grad school, a professor spoke with us about how our society doesn't end things well — we'd rather say “see you later” than “this...
CASE STUDY: My patient with opioid use disorder (OUD) has terrible cancer pain.
Identifying challenges when treating patients with concurrent substance use disorders and cancer pain
CASE STUDY: My patient just told me they are trans. What do I say?
Communicating with transgender patients ISSUES IN PracticE Transgender patients experience significant barriers to accessing health care. As with many marginalized communities, physicians as a profession have contributed to the trauma inflicted on transgender people....
books
Restoring Practice
A Workbook for Healing Physicians
Marcus Greatheart MD MSW
Be the doctor you always wanted to be
A Workbook for Inspiring Physicians
Marcus Greatheart MD MSW
Transforming practice
Life Stories of Transgender Men that Change How Health Providers Work
Marcus Greatheart MD MSW
The Contemporary HIV Zeitgeist
Annals of Gay Sexuality
Marcus Greatheart & Robert Birch, eds.
about
MEET MARCUS GREATHEART MD MSW
Marcus Greatheart is a practicing physician, registered social worker, author and a doctor-patient communication specialist.
Leveraging his decades of experience in social work and medicine, he trains overloaded doctors to deploy time-saving communication tools and techniques with their patients. In doing so, he coaches physicians to take control of their schedule, achieve better outcomes for their patients, demystify complicated clinical encounters and reduce burnout.
about
I was 40 years old when I packed up and moved across the country to start Medical School.
I arrived with a real sense of calling as a doctor. In my back pocket I had a BA in Art History and a Master’s degree in Social Work. I didn’t need a Science degree to get into Med school, but I sure needed one on the first day.
It was a challenging journey but when I finished, I moved back to my hometown to complete a residency in Family Medicine.
As a resident, I noticed the many comments I received on my last name.
“You should be a cardiologist, or a pediatrician,” they said, if they even got my name right. I got Greyheart and, of course, Braveheart (ugh, that terrible movie!) Goodheart is a tough one because when I reply “Great, not Good,” I sound like I’m full of myself.
What I could not have anticipated was the comfort my name would give patients, especially at 2AM in the hospital. Patients and their familiies would ask me about my name, or comment that I must be a good doctor with my name, and the small talk helped initially-nervous patients relax and tell me what brought them to the ER.
Nowadays, I work alongside the city’s 5 percent most complex patients with medical, mental health and psychosocial issues, using strengths-based and trauma-informed practice through a social justice lense.
I live with my beekeeper husband, Brandford, and our Golden Retriever pup Vince.
– Marcus Greatheart