I'm Alan Olga and this is Clear and Vivid, conversations about connecting and communicating.

Here I am in 70-year-old physician.

I've been in practice for all practical purposes 40 years.

So I think to myself, what have I learned and what can I pass on that might be useful?

Many people will leave a doctor's office feeling there's been no connection.

But what I've learned is if you make an honest attempt, not some phony attempt, but if you're

actually struggling working to understand a person, it goes much better.

You actually can help them.

Dr. Carl van Devendor is a physician in Nashville, Tennessee.

And he's one of the most empathic doctors I've ever met.

Actually he's one of the most empathic people I've ever known.

How seem like the perfect person to talk with in our second show in this special series

on the role of empathy and medicine?

We got together in our studio in Manhattan.

I wanted to talk to you about the way you talk to patients.

It's really unusual in this day and age.

For one thing the time you're able to spend is different from what most doctors are able

to do now.

How long can a doctor spend with a patient usually?

It depends on the field, but most people who do what I do, which is so-called primary

care, I'm a general internal medicine doctor for adults.

And I would say most physicians in today's climate are in the room with the patient for

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