My paper will answer the questions, “How does the doctor-patient relationship affect patient care? How can doctors and patients work to improve this relationship?”. In particular, I will focus on how two key compnents of this- empathy and the communication skills of the doctor- impact the outcomes of your medical treatment. There is measurable evidence, which I will discuss in detail in my paper, that supports this. However, there are also a great deal of work that can be done, on both the doctor’s and the patient’s part, to improve the amount of communication and empathy between the two parties. For example, patients can self-advocate when they are concerned about a symptom or have medical questions. Doctors can work on encouraging
