excerpts "I am a good patient, believe it or not" 2003

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/326/7402/1293.pdf

I am a good patient, believe it or not

Alejandro R Jadad, Carlos A Rizo and Murray W Enkin

BMJ 2003;326;1293-1295
doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7402.1293
What service might “good patients” of the future expect from their dcotors? We asked a team of clinicians for their views.

The good patient of the future will:

■ Bring lists of questions to the
consultation and will expect answers
in clear terms
■ Know how involved they want to
be in decisions about their health
care; most will choose to share
decisions with their healthcare
providers
■ Have free access to their health
record on paper or through
electronic means and will use it or
share it as they see fit
■ Request and receive a second
opinion whenever they face a major
diagnosis or decisions about
treatment
■ Use telephone, internet, and other
forms of communication to
complement personal visits with
members of the healthcare team

What Patients Want from their Doctors:

Patients want many
things from their doctors,
not all of which are
possible. Mike Stone,
director of the UK’s
Patients Association, lists
what he believes patients
want from their doctors.
■ Eye contact
There is nothing worse
than walking into a
consulting room and
not getting any eye
contact from the
doctor. It happened to
me only last week. I
knocked on the door to
be greeted with
“Come” and to find the
doctor sitting looking
at his computer screen.
He continued to do so
while asking why I had
come to see him.
■ Partnership
Patients want to be
people who doctors do
things with, not people
that doctors do things
to. Patients want to be
consulted about their
condition, their
treatment, and how
things will progress
from the consultation.
■ Communication
Communication from
doctor to patient and
vice versa is the key to
a successful
consultation. Many
patients still feel that
they are entering “alien
territory” when they go
to see their doctor. In
many cases they are
scared, they don’t
understand what the
doctor is saying, and
they are not able to
take everything in that
they are told. Just as
doctors may have
trouble understanding
a patient’s explanation
of symptoms, so
patients may have
trouble understanding
a doctor’s explanation
of the diagnosis.
■ Time
Patients want to spend
more time with their
doctor: they want time
to be able to explain
things and have things
explained to them. We
all know that there is a
shortage of doctors,
and we know that a
doctor’s time is
valuable. However, if
one wish could be
granted for patients it
would be for more time
with their doctor.
■ Appointments
Patients want to get to
see their doctor within
a reasonable time; not
weeks, but rather a few
days, or, in the case of
a person who is unwell,
a few hours if possible.