Medical Encounters of the Third Kind

Dear Mr. Kaufman,

I’m a practicing medical doctor.

I came across your video playing at the bookstore. I was rooted to the spot for 30 minutes! I bought your book and subscribed to your newsletter. Thoroughly enjoyed them both!

Regarding your Service Encounters of the Third Kind, how do I apply that in my medical practice? The first and second kind are no problem. But how can I use the third kind in medicine? How do I ask, ‘What do you want to become?’ to my patients?

Dr. H.H., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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Hello, Dr H.H.,

Thank you for that great question!

Service Encounters of the Third Kind in medicine moves the doctor/patient relationship beyond ‘What’s wrong or what needs fixing?’ (an encounter of the first kind), beyond ‘Which therapy or style of treatment do you want?’ (an encounter of the second kind), to a dialogue focusing on your patient’s preferred choice of lifestyle: nutrition, exercise, bodywork, stress release and emotional well-being included.

This is a proactive conversation about changing behaviors and practices to create and achieve intended health objectives. It’s not a traditional (often remedial) conversation about what’s wrong and what needs to be, or can be, fixed.

In medicine these third-kind discussions are usually seen as preventative in nature, and often aren’t easy to broach given the intense pressures of time most doctors face, and given the traditional view most patients have of their doctors.

However, some chiropractors, naturopaths and holistic medical practitioners have built successful practices in the third-kind direction. They provide education for their patients on movement (yoga, exercise, breath work), nutrition (supplements, dietary choices, cooking styles), and even family and career matters (stress clinics, relationship workshops, company wellness retreats).

I am not sure where your practice is along this spectrum, but I do hope this reply is useful for you. Wishing you and your patients the very best.

Ron Kaufman