In high-volume outpatient departments, should physicians prioritize empathetic patient interaction even if it slows down workflow, or is clinical efficiency more important for serving the greater number?
How can we strike a balance between the two?
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That’s a very good question!!
Well in that case we can have separate staff who can help the patients to get their BP, temperature, weight and get their other parameters checked. Also help the patient to arrange all their blood reports and CTs and MRIs arranged in chronological order. That ways it can spare out several minutes of your OPD time. Also, empathy doesn’t have any other replacement and trust me a major part of the medical therapy is reassurance and empathy, and you don’t want to ruin your Reputation Right ?? So its better to send your patient fully satisfied. 
Hope it helps!!
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Both should be balanced…
While there are multiple patients to be diagnosed, there should be a tinge of empathy for the patient.
When a patient comes to a doctor, there’s a hope of getting better and getting treated well and a doctor hopes when a patient comes for the check-up, the patient will tell everything without any hesitation.
For this Patient and doctor relationship empathy is important to make the patient feel safe and easy while he is in pain and efficiency is important to diagnose every patient accurately. 
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Empathy and efficiency are not mutually exclusive. The goal is not longer consults, but smarter, more humane ones. In busy OPDs, brief yet meaningful interactions, coupled with streamlined processes and team support, can ensure both high patient volume and human-centered care.
Thus a doctor should practice structured empathy. This can be achieved by active listening, validating emotions and using empathetic language all in doable 30 - 60 seconds.
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When patients after patients standing in the queue to see the doctor, the situation becomes tricky. For bringing in empathy and efficiency - which both should be the case actually - either the doctor if s(he) is a solo practitioner or the hospital has to increase the resources (and Not just the OPD / consultation fee). Tan baat banegi. As simple as that. Greed has to take a backseat and a balance has to be cleared.
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