The Physician-Patient Relationship

One of the central issues of the article discussed in my previous posting is that of the relationship between physician and patient. Evidence-Based Medicine concerns scientific method, basing treatment on the most rigorously researched and substantiated scientific evidence. Patients deserve such treatment and physicians no doubt want to provide it. But patients aren't their disease; they have the disease. In the delivery of treatment, there is another element to be considered--the need for patients to be acknowledged and validated as individuals and recognize in their physician they have someone who hears them.

Amongst the literature that addresses this issue, is a recent article that, as the title suggests, may go right to heart of the matter: Improving education on doctor-patient relationships and communication: lessons from doctors who become patients. The author, Dr. Robert Klitzman, interviewed 50 doctors who had serious illness to determine in what way their experiences as patients impacted their work as health care providers. As a result of their experience as patients, the doctors reported "increased sensitivity to patients’ experiences and empathy in doctor–patient communication. These findings can help in teaching doctors to see more clearly that their specific point of view differs from that of patients, and can be limiting. This study also sheds light on the wide separation between intellectual and experiential learning, which needs to be addressed further in medical education and research" (p. 447).

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The route I took to find this article was through MEDLINE. I started my search using a good old fashioned concept: beside manner. One of the MeSh terms from which bedside manner maps is 'Physician-Patient Relations.' I combined this with another MeSh term: 'Empathy.'

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Klitzman, Robert. "Improving Education on Doctor-Patient Relationships and Communication: Lessons from Doctors Who Become Patients." Academic Medicine 81, no. 5 (May 2006): 447-453.