Be Careful of Patient-Centered Clinical Consultations

To contact us Click HERE

This is an interesting study for theway it is presented. Yes, it is only a press release and only theabstract is available without a fee. It is interestingbecause this idea of “patient-centered” is being talked about byclinicians and other physicians,  Until recently, this was not widelydiscussed other than by patients who wanted doctors to talk with theminstead of at them. Patients have wanted to be included in thedecision-making and given sources of education to help themunderstand more about their illness or disease.
We still have many doctors that willnot consider patient-centered activity and will not accept patientsthat are proactive in their care. These doctors are slowlydecreasing and many are retiring. More and more doctors are workingfor patient-centered consultations and even a few are taking itfurther with shared medical appointments (SMAs) to be able to educatemore patients and get patient-to-patient input and interaction. Often this shared time brings on increased satisfaction from patientsand allow patients to become more involved and knowledgeable abouttheir illness or disease.
The study does not cover any of theabove, but does discuss the communication problems in health carethat may arise when providers (generally doctors) focus on diseasesand their management. This means that they are not focusing onpeople (the patients) and their health problems. Patient-centeredcare in the patient visit is increasingly being sought by thepatients, more doctors, and is being incorporated into training forhealth care providers. The consequences of these interactions onclinical encounters and indirectly on patient satisfaction, healthcare behavior, and health status has not been properly evaluated.
I will let you read information on thedata and collection methods if you desire and move on to theconclusions. Interventions to promote patient-centered care withinclinical consultations are effective across studies in transferringpatient-centered skills to providers. However the effects on patientsatisfaction, health behavior and health status are mixed. There issome indication that complex interventions directed at providers andpatients that include condition-specific educational materials havebeneficial effects on health behavior and health status. Theseoutcomes have not been assessed in studies reviewed previously.
Training providers has improved theirability to share control with patients and for most patients to havesuccess in consultations with providers that have been trained withnew skills. Short-term training of less than 10 hours is assuccessful as long-term training. Yes, results are mixed at thispoint and will continue to be until providers are confident that thenew skill will work for the long-term. The disappointment has to bethe small number of these multi-faceted studies. To have moreconfidence, more studies are needed. This should help patients anddoctors.