Class 9 – PATIENT RELATIONSHIPS
Study after study has shown that communication between physicians and their patients is key to avoid or at least help reduce medical malpractice lawsuits. Humor, touching or relating to the patient, listening to the patient are all important factors that can come into play. Patient relationships are utmost important. Part of the relationship with patients includes rendering quality (meaning appropriate and necessary) care in a timely manner.
Another way in which patient relationships matter could be a financial one, such as based on bonuses. For example, bonuses to be paid to physicians by their own medical groups or by Managed Care Organizations may consider patient satisfaction ratings of the physician. The article by Myfanwy Morgan, “Measuring Process and Outcomes: Professional Compliance, Professional Opinions and Patients’ Well-Being,“ Family Practice (Oxford University Press, 2000) gives some perspective on patient satisfaction ratings. The article states that in a resource constrained publicly funded service, such as health care in England, establishing patient satisfaction has many variables that comes into play. Patients’ evaluations of health care services are affected by what happens “during the process of consultation and decision-making” and by their eventual outcomes in terms of “health gain.”
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