Padmanabhan Premkumar, MD, is an Associate Program Director at the University of Connecticut - Hartford Hospital. He also serves as the Medical Director of Clinical Documentation. Dr. Premkumar was born in Southern India and migrated to Canada during high school. After graduating from The University of Toronto, Dr. Premkumar earned his medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine, and completed residency and a subsequent year of chief residency at UConn Health. His passion for teaching and education has led him to pursue a career as an educator at Hartford Hospital.

You can be the smartest person in the world, says Dr. Padmanabhan Premkumar, but if you can’t go into a patient’s room, and walk out with someone thinking of you in a different light, you haven’t achieved anything. Today, Dr. Premkumar teaches us what it means to be fully present with our patients in order to build meaningful trust with them. He believes it’s important for us to establish a good relationship with our patients as early as possible. And he reminds us that all patients want with us is to be able to connect—and as physicians, we owe them that right.

Pearls of Wisdom:

1. In all of our interactions—not just with patients—let the other person have a voice. The best residents are those who can engage others, let them know that you are present when you are talking with them. That is the key to building a trusting relationship.
2. As mentors, and as leaders, we need to lead by example. We can’t expect someone else to do something that we aren’t ready to do ourselves.
3. The key traits of successful people are having the communication skills and the presence of mind to be able to apply knowledge to difficult situations.