‘Bad manners’—refocusing on ‘bedside manner’ as a core professional behaviour for doctors

Abstract

Healthcare systems globally face unprecedented pressures, with increasing patient volumes and resource constraints affecting care delivery. While systemic factors contribute to patient dissatisfaction, individual healthcare professional behaviours significantly impact patient experience regardless of system constraints. Despite communication skills being fundamental to medical training, evidence suggests that bedside manner—historically a marker for quality of care through the eyes of patients—has deteriorated due to multiple factors, including increased workload, professional burnout, shifts from bedside to simulation-based teaching, and evolving hospital cultures that prioritize efficiency over patient-centred care. Bedside manner may seem to have little relevance against this backdrop, yet its importance has never been greater as the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK prepares to undergo reform, and medicine as a profession begins to evolve and redefine the doctor’s role in the era of artificial intelligence. This commentary synthesises literature on doctor–patient communication and presents both experience- and evidence-based recommendations for three core professional behaviours that doctors can demonstrate now to positively impact patient and carer experiences. Each example is presented with relevant context, and instructions for behaving through the lens of ‘good manners’. Adhering to social norms and aspiring to behave courteously will enable doctors to manage difficult situations more effectively, rebuild trust among patients or their carers, and regrow confidence in the profession. Training in interactions with patients should therefore be seen as a fundamental aspect of medical education and behavioural coaching should ensure that resident doctors never talk down to their patients.