It is imperative that doctors and patients share a high level of communication and understanding in order to effectively diagnose, treat, and manage a patient’s condition. Imbalances in this critical relationship can result in poor quality of care or worse. The two major influences in the doctor patient relationship are illness severity and social distance. According to Szasz and Hollender, three main models of doctor-patient interaction exist. First, the activity-passivity model describes a situation in which the patient is in a severe state of emergency and relative helplessness, due to lack of consciousness or serious injury. The physician works to stabilize the patient’s condition and assumes all of the power, due to the patient’s inability
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This interaction most often occurs when the patient is suffering from a well-known acute illness, such as the flu. Finally, mutual participation describes the management of a chronic illness, such as diabetes, in which the doctor and patient have a high level of communication and the patient holds much of the responsibility of their medication and illness management schedules. Of the three, mutual participation is the most common interaction model in today’s medical care, due to the high prevalence of chronic illnesses. In fact, one of the most well-known and prevalent chronic illnesses, heart disease, causes 1 in 4 deaths in the United States according to the CDC.
The doctor patient relationship is rather fragile, however, and can be profoundly influenced by several social variables. Namely, gender differences between doctors and patients may cause difficulties in communication or misdiagnosis.. Sue Fisher’s 1980s study of male, white, middle-class doctors revealed dissatisfaction on the part of women patients, who claimed their doctors failed to adequately explain diagnoses and procedures. Male …show more content…
Adherence refers to the extent to which a patient takes their medications as prescribed. In fact, 50% of patients in the US do not take their medications as prescribed and 33-66% of hospital admission may be due to non-adherence. Many factors play in to the possibility of non-adherence; however, ineffective communication between doctors and patients is a serious contributing factor. Perhaps most importantly, doctors must realize and take into account the literacy levels of their patients and make an effort to communicate with them in a way they will completely understand. Difficulties with medication adherence were painfully evident in Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The incredible story of culture, science, medicine, and contradiction follows young Lia Lee and her parents in their battle against her epilepsy. Lia Lee and her family have extreme difficulty communicating with American doctors, largely due to a severe language barrier, but also as a side effect of considerable cultural differences. Lia’s parents do not believe their daughter is plagued by random and unexplainable neurological activity, nor would they be able to understand epilepsy even if they were able to communicate effectively to the physicians. In Hmong culture, epilepsy is seen as divine, and therefore is rather
This interaction most often occurs when the patient is suffering from a well-known acute illness, such as the flu. Finally, mutual participation describes the management of a chronic illness, such as diabetes, in which the doctor and patient have a high level of communication and the patient holds much of the responsibility of their medication and illness management schedules. Of the three, mutual participation is the most common interaction model in today’s medical care, due to the high prevalence of chronic illnesses. In fact, one of the most well-known and prevalent chronic illnesses, heart disease, causes 1 in 4 deaths in the United States according to the CDC.
The doctor patient relationship is rather fragile, however, and can be profoundly influenced by several social variables. Namely, gender differences between doctors and patients may cause difficulties in communication or misdiagnosis.. Sue Fisher’s 1980s study of male, white, middle-class doctors revealed dissatisfaction on the part of women patients, who claimed their doctors failed to adequately explain diagnoses and procedures. Male …show more content…
Adherence refers to the extent to which a patient takes their medications as prescribed. In fact, 50% of patients in the US do not take their medications as prescribed and 33-66% of hospital admission may be due to non-adherence. Many factors play in to the possibility of non-adherence; however, ineffective communication between doctors and patients is a serious contributing factor. Perhaps most importantly, doctors must realize and take into account the literacy levels of their patients and make an effort to communicate with them in a way they will completely understand. Difficulties with medication adherence were painfully evident in Anne Fadiman’s book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The incredible story of culture, science, medicine, and contradiction follows young Lia Lee and her parents in their battle against her epilepsy. Lia Lee and her family have extreme difficulty communicating with American doctors, largely due to a severe language barrier, but also as a side effect of considerable cultural differences. Lia’s parents do not believe their daughter is plagued by random and unexplainable neurological activity, nor would they be able to understand epilepsy even if they were able to communicate effectively to the physicians. In Hmong culture, epilepsy is seen as divine, and therefore is rather