Changes In Society And Technology Are Influencing How Patients See Their Physicians
Demographic change, education, affluence, availability of information via the Internet, patient mobility, direct-to-consumer marketing, patient age, patient activity demands, cost pressures and physician accountability are converging to present the practitioner with a patient who is more informed and has higher expectations than any prior generation of patients.
Today's patients do not simply have a medical complaint, they desire a particular operation and sometimes even a particular implant. The doctor is no longer the sole source of medical information. Patients have enough snippets of information to stimulate a dialogue and clearly express their expectations for a particular outcome and technique to achieve that outcome. They are also demanding quicker recovery, return to higher-level sport activity and earlier discharge from the hospital.
"Patients have come to expect miracles in medicine as the norm, yet these miracles are not without inherent risk," cautions Mason.
Providing true patient-centered care relies on doctors' ability to supply patients with accurate, evidence-based information and to improve communication. However, patients are not necessarily motivated by evidence-based medicine. They are often willing to adopt the promises of direct-to- consumer marketing.
In Mason's view, the doctor's responsibility is "to maintain control of validated information sources and of the exchange of information with the patient. [Doctors] need to be interpreters and balancers of scientific information to help guide [their] patients through the maze of medical hyperbole. [They] need to discuss new treatments and technologies openly and honestly."
And crucially, they must also understand that although patients' demands are changing, the surgeon's accountability and responsibility for their patient's safety and care have not.
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Article adapted by Start Sanatate from original press release.
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Reference
1. Mason JB (2008). The new demands by patients in the modern era of total joint arthroplasty. Clin Orthop Relat Res (DOI 10.1007/s11999-007-0009-2)
Source: Joan Robinson
Springer
Modificãri în societate ºi tehnologia sunt de influenþare a vedea cum pacienþii lor de medici - Changes In Society And Technology Are Influencing How Patients See Their Physicians - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate