By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    headphones can create health problems
    The Harmful Health Effects of Using Headphones
    September 24, 2021
    Headache causes
    4 Causes Of Headache You Probably Didn’t Know About
    December 28, 2021
    follow these steps to recover from your injury
    What Steps Should You Take to Recover More Quickly from an Injury?
    April 12, 2022
    Latest News
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
    Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
    July 20, 2025
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Healthcare Breakthroughs: 3 Ways to Improve Your Chances of Fighting Obesity
    September 22, 2017
    Bone Marrow Donation and Compensation: My Moral Dilemma
    December 11, 2013
    health problems caused by poor cleanliness
    5 Serious Health Problems Caused By Poor Cleanliness
    September 15, 2020
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: The Myth of Patient-Centered Care
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Hospital Administration > The Myth of Patient-Centered Care
Hospital Administration

The Myth of Patient-Centered Care

Steve Wilkins
Steve Wilkins
Share
7 Min Read
patient-centered care
SHARE

patient-centered careI can’t think of any strategic initiative in recent time with more potential to engage and active patients, improve patient health outcomes and enhance patient experiences than the call by the Institute of Medicine in Crossing the Quality Chasm for providers to become more patient-centered.  Specifically, more patient-centered in the way they communicate with patients.

Contents
Why Is Understanding The Patient’s Expectations Important?Clinician Barriers To Soliciting The Patient’s Perspective?The Take Away?The Solution?Sources

patient-centered careI can’t think of any strategic initiative in recent time with more potential to engage and active patients, improve patient health outcomes and enhance patient experiences than the call by the Institute of Medicine in Crossing the Quality Chasm for providers to become more patient-centered.  Specifically, more patient-centered in the way they communicate with patients.

Having spent years working in the field, I am continually amazed at the rich body of evidence documenting the wide range of strategic benefits of engaging patients in conversations about their health goals, beliefs, motivations and expectations. I am also amazed at how slow health plans, hospitals systems and the like have been to leverage the benefits of patient-centered communications within their provider networks.

A 2011 article in BMJ’s journal Quality and Safety highlight the present state of affairs with respect to patient-centered communications in the U.S.

More Read

debt relief for hospitals
Should We Bail Out Hospitals for Their Bad Debt?
HIMSS 2013: Mayhem or Magic?
Why Doctors Need To Listen To And Understand The Patient’s “Perspectives” – A True Story
The Financial Liabilities of Medical Negligence Cases in the UK
Disruptive Physician Toolkit

The study looked at how often physicians employed the most essential and defining patient-centered communication skill – asking patients about what they expected from their health encounter. In the case of the study, asking patients what they expected from a required hospital stay…although the finding could just as easily come from a study of physician office visits.

Why Is Understanding The Patient’s Expectations Important?

The basic premise of patient-centered care is that, where practicable, the clinician should honor the patient’s beliefs, motivations fears and expectations in the course of treating them.   Obviously before you can “honor” the patient’s “perspective” you first need to understand what they are. The clinician needs to ask the patient.

And there’s the rub.

Turns out that only 16% of physicians in the study (residents and attending physicians) admitted to routinely asking their patients about their health care-related expectations.

Research has shown that patients typically bring a set of expectations to health encounters. Some of these expectations may be explicitly verbalized by the patient by many are not.   They have to be solicited by the clinician.   Absent asking the patient, studies show that clinicians tend to underestimate and not recognize the patient’s perspective resulting in:

  • unmet expectations
  • poor satisfaction
  • low clinical guideline adherence
  • poor overall health outcomes

Clinician Barriers To Soliciting The Patient’s Perspective?

According to the physicians, failure to inquire about the patient’s expectations had little to do with a perceived lack of importance. Most physicians in a 2011 study believed that it was not only “important to understand their patient’s expectations” (89.4%) but that such expectations should be “responded to in a structured way” (88.5%) and “documented in the patient’s record” (67%).
Nor was lack of time or reimbursement cited a reason why they neglected to ask patients about their expectations.

The number one reason cited by physicians for not asking patients about their visit expectations was the lack of communication skills and know how.   They weren’t trained to ask patient questions like this.   This response is not surprising given that most physicians today employ the same physician-directed communication skills they learned in medical school.

The Take Away?

Findings from BJM Quality and Safety article, and other like it, suggest that health care providers today are no more patient-centered in the way they communicate with patients than they were 30 years ago when research into the dynamics of physician-patient communication first began.

This is unfortunate for patients, providers and payers. It unfortunate for patients in that they are not getting the quality of care that they expect and deserve.  It is unfortunate for providers in that they are not doing right by patients or themselves from the stand point of outcomes and satisfying, patient experiences.  It’s unfortunate for payers in that they are not getting full value for their health care expenditures.

The Solution?

Health plans, hospital systems, IPA, ACOs and the like need to invest some time and money in helping physicians improve their patient-centered communication skills.

Helping raise awareness of the state of physician-patient communications in the U.S. is why I have taken the lead in bringing together some of the leading authorities in the physician-patient communication filed to organize the Adopt One! Challenge. Adopt One! challenges physicians across the country to take the first step by committing to adopt one new patient-centered communication skill in 2014.

As part of the Challenge, physicians will receive a baseline assessment of their patient communication skills, a comparison of their skills against best communication practices and unlimited access to the tools needed to help develop their new skill. Best of we are doing it for free for qualifying physicians.

For more information on the Adopt One! Challenge go to www.adoptonechallenge.com

Sources

Rozenblum, R. et al. Uncovering the blind spot of patient satisfaction: an international survey. BMJ Quality and Safety. 2011;20:959e965.

Bell RA, Kravitz RL, Thom D, et al. Unmet expectations for care and the patient-physician relationship. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2002; 17:817e24

(patient-centered care / shutterstock)

Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

technology in medical research
The Tools Helping Medical Researchers See the Full Picture
News Technology
August 3, 2025
5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
Health
July 31, 2025
holistic dental
Holistic Dentist Services Are Natural and Safe
Dental health Specialties
July 28, 2025
botox certification
Help Improve People’s Skin Health Via Botox Certification
Skin Specialties
July 22, 2025

You Might also Like

five star quality rating
FinanceHealth ReformHospital AdministrationPolicy & LawPublic Health

Hospital Selfies and Stars: Patients Look Deeper Than HCAHPS

June 9, 2015

Hospital Training Using Virtual World and Avatars

May 20, 2011

Hand Hygiene Monitoring in Hospitals

March 8, 2011

Swamped: America’s Health Care System Is Drowning in Misery

November 11, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?