Physician-Driven/Paternalistic Communication

Why Doctors Need To Listen To And Understand The Patient’s “Perspectives” – A True Story

Perhaps the most fundamental principle of “patient-centered care” is for clinicians to understand the patient’s perspective regarding key aspects of a care episode. Here’s a real life example that just happened to my wife and I...

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We Stop Being A “Person” And Become A “Patient” When We Walk Into The Exam Room At The Doctor’s Office

We all play many roles in life .... spouse, employee, sibling, parent, friend, customer, and so on. Each of these roles brings with it its' own unique set of expectations (self-imposed as well as externally imposed - can you say spouse) for how we are supposed to...

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It’s Time To Stop Blaming The Patient And Fix The Real Problem – Poor Physician-Patient Communications

Yet another in a seemingly endless series of articles blaming patients for all that’s wrong in health care is running in Modern Healthcare.  The 3-part series entitled Channeling Choice looks at how patients (people like you and I) just aren’t making the kinds of...

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HIT-Driven Patient Engagement Is A Bust – Effective Patient Engagement Begins With The Doctor-Patient Relationship

I hate saying I told you so.  But to quote myself…"patient engagement is a physician-patient communications challenge and not an HIT (Health Information Technology) challenge." Just take a look at the Mayo Clinic’s patient portal experience which was discussed at a...

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The Traditional Patient “Sick Role” Is A Major Barrier To High Quality Health Care

Each of us wears many different “hats” throughout the course of the day.  We are an employee, a wife, a father, a club member, a consumer and so on.   It comes as no surprise that our thinking, what we say, and how we say it at any particular time coincides with the...

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