Fear and Loathing During the Office Visit: An Opportunity

Today the NY Times had a short article in the Well Section “Afraid to Speak Up at the Doctors Office” It was a summary of a longer (behind a paywall–grrrrrr) article in Health Affairs “Authoritarian Physicians And Patients’ Fear Of Being Labeled ‘Difficult’ Among Key Obstacles To Shared Decision Making
Three points struck me as I read the article in the Times and the abstract. First, shared decision making is key in collaborative medicine where the patient participates in their treatment and care as an HCP partner. One of the best examples of how SDM works and what it can do is The Ottawa Decision Support Network. Using SDM to it fullest potential with all the features and benefits is not a simple task for the busy practice. Second, the fact that patients have these questions and concerns and want to engage demonstrates that adult learning is at work. Patients want to find solutions to problems they have. They want to be active learners but are held back by …”patients feel compelled to conform to socially sanctioned roles and defer to physicians during clinical consultations; that physicians can be authoritarian..” And finally there exists a huge opportunity for both HCP and patients to create ‘productive inquiry’ that can improve outcomes and how care delivered and its effect.

From the abstract the authors argue that the HCP may not be aware that patients are holding back or are afraid to engage in learning. This is a perfect opportunity for the HCP to manage patient care from a place of partnership and not top down. I wrote a post  “Changing the Office Visit from a Transaction to a Value Experience“. My failure in that post was to assume the HCP was ready to engage. Based on this study it seems the HCP is clueless to this need and opportunity. Nature hates a vacuum and this one needs to be filled.

From my view I would try to demonstrate that engaging with the patient in productive inquiry has benefits not just of warm fuzzy feelings but of improvements in outcomes. And we all know that outcomes is the new black in healthcare for both institutions and individual practices. The key is to not have the HCP try this with an entire practice but do his own small two arm study. Look at patients sharing a common illness or healthcare need, identify those who are seeking solutions to problems they want to solve, and divide them in half. With one group actively participate in their learning. With the other, treat and manage as usual. In six months do a chart audit to determine their clinical outcomes. But also measure the patients knowledge and understanding of their illness and how they are approaching and self managing. I would present that the clinical outcome should equal the social outcome of the patient as an active participant with the HCP in the management of their health.

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