Touch, an essential component of a doctor patient relationship

In the summer of 2015 I was sitting in my room looking for a deep tendon reflexes video on YouTube and I found this one which interested me very much, it was by Dr. Abraham Verghese. I wanted to see if he had any other videos there, and so I searched him up on YouTube again and there was this TedTalk he had given back in 2011; the title was "A doctor's touch" and in this almost 19 minute video he went onto explain how much difference does it make for the patient. This was a very important video for me, it revealed the importance of giving time, attention, care and most importantly establishing a doctor--patient relationship of which the foundations can only be laid by the doctor's touch.

We have the orientation weeks going on these days before the internship year finally kicks off, and there was this communication skill presentation, in this presentation one of the highlights was the importance of the physical exam. Sometimes we fail to understand what being a doctor is all about, it's not about knowledge, sometimes you just don't know, it is about soothing someone's anxiety by letting them know that you, the doctor, care them as a person and not just as another case. 

Last year I was in one of the wards taking a history from this 65 year old patient, I talked to him, asked every question which I thought would be relevant to his case, he was the victim of a road traffic accident, it was a pretty straight forward case. At the end I thanked him and as I was about to turn around he said and I quote "Kisi doctor nae siddae muh naal gaal nahi kitti" (All the doctors who had seen me did not even properly talk) and he was very thankful that I took out the time to listen to him in detail. I can't forget his face. Sometimes you just need to listen to them and let them know you care for human beings and not cases.

PS here's the link to that wonderful talk by Dr. Abraham Verghese, do check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxnlvwprf_c