While there’s some evidence that hugs are psychologically beneficial, for clinicians and US presidential hopefuls they can be open to misinterpretation and may outright land you in trouble.
Gold Coast surgeon Dr Rhea Liang took up the touchy issue recently with a simple Twitter question which, at time of writing, has had almost 700 responses; “Doctors hugging patients – yes or no?”
Doctors hugging patients- yes or no?
— Rhea Liang (@LiangRhea) April 18, 2019
Perhaps unsurprisingly the responses (from both doctors and patients) were many and varied ranging from “yes” to “never”, with every possible nuance in between.
Key among the observations was that “appropriateness” was all important with one noting “context is king”.
This is why emotional intelligence is so important! Helps with understanding context and reading cues. I still always ask though. In peds, my line is usually “Do you need a hug or a high five?” That way they have options.
— Hannah Weinstangel (@WeinstangelMD) April 19, 2019
Some doctors believed there should be a “preamble” if they were going to hug, while others were OK with a hug as long as it was initiated by the patient.
I’m an oncologist. I hug although it is rare. Usually with a patient I’ve known a long time, at the end of an emotionally hard visit, when I sense it’s the right thing to do. And I always ask first. I have a whole hug preamble.
— Julia Close, MD (@JuliaLClose) April 18, 2019