This book and its companion, Skills for Communicating with Patients, Second Edition, provide a comprehensive approach to improving communication in medicine 'All medical educators could benefit from this volume and all should read it'Frederic W Platt in his Foreword 'These books have quickly found a global readership, and now there are second editions of both books. The updating of the literature alone would have made these new editions welcome, but the authors have gone further. These books are small investment for a potentially large improvement'Jan van Dalen in his Foreword