Further Notes and Information
Q10 Have you noticed how touch arises in your contact with patients? Are there times when you have touched patients outside of clinical examination?
Are there ways in which touch may be helpful in interaction with patients? Consider how non clinical touch may be experienced by the patient, and how it may be experienced by different patients with different backgrounds and cultural experiences.
Some limited touch may be acceptable in some circumstances. A hand on the shoulder for a distressed patient may be okay. However the experience of touch varies considerably depending on age, gender, cultural background and consideration of these factors is very important. One doctor was subject to a complaint from an elderly female patient when he held her hand, which occurred to him as normal but to her as intrusive and unprofessional.