She teaches secondand third-year medical students how to be better doctors. She uses horses to do it. WHOA! What’s up with that? Since 2005, Dr. Kane has been the program director for “Medicine & Horsemanship” at the Stanford School of Medicine. The course is designed to help doctors develop the interpersonal skills necessary for good communication with patients and other doctors, a key issue in health care. Studies by the American Medical Association and others show poor communication to be a common cause of medical errors. It is often a factor in malpractice suits and patient dissatisfaction, and has a lot to do with whether a patient follows through with treatment.