stat tracker
Recommendations to Improve the Patient/Physician Relationship 

More than 200 patients, physicians and other healthcare professionals recently spent a weekend together listening to each other's views on ways to improve the patient/physician relationship. The result was a consensus report called Defining the Patient/ Physician Relationship for the 21st Century.

 The report's goal: to help improve health care in the United States by focusing attention on the fundamental interaction between patient and physician.

The sponsors of the gathering, Johns Hopkins University and American Healthways, a provider of health management services, noted that the recommendations that came out of this meeting reveal that a very complex and pervasive issue has many surprisingly simple solutions that can be easily implemented.

For example, the leading recommendations for physicians to incorporate into their practices include:

► Be timely, including being prompt for scheduled office visits and responding to requests for information via telephone.

► Pay more attention to the office environment and staff, understanding the impact this has on patient satisfaction.

► Implement a social questionnaire, understanding the role that gender, age, race, religion and other nonmedical information play in treatment and care.

► Be open to education by the patient and remain objective when reviewing outside information, including the use of alternative/ nontraditional therapies.

► Work with patients to explicitly define and discuss realistic expectations and goals regarding testing and treatment.

Recommendations for patients to follow include:

► Arrive on time for office visits and be sufficiently prepared to ask questions and participate in the decision-making process.

► Keep a detailed, personal medical file, complete with lab results and prescriptions.

► Take responsibility for owning, maintaining, and sharing personal medical records with all members of the healthcare team.

► Assume ultimate responsibility for managing your condition and use self-care opportunities provided.

"What we have done is define the goals for the patient/physician relationship; it's going to take a national, collective effort to build the system that takes us where we want to be," said Z. Elizabeth Hays, M.D., a primary care physician in Portland, Ore.

"Studies prove that the best care occurs when doctors and patients communicate their expectations to each other clearly and respectfully, and our healthcare system will only improve when our society has a candid discussion about what we expect from it," said David Lansky, Ph.D., president of the Foundation for Accountability, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care by advocating an accountable and accessible system in which consumers are partners in their care and help shape the delivery of care.

About this data: The information in this Stat Tracker column was provided by Johns Hopkins University and American Healthways, which co-sponsored and moderated the gathering of more than 200 patients, physicians and other healthcare professionals. Through a consensus process, patients and healthcare professionals identified seven key components of the patient/physician relationship. These included Communication, Office Experience, Hospital Experience, Education, Integration, Decision-Making and Outcomes. Participants made recommendations for improvements within each category.