Improving Doctor Patient Communication: Exploring Ethics and Effective Strategies

The doctor-patient interaction has evolved over time. The majority of partnerships before the past two decades featured a patient seeking help and a doctor, whose decisions the patient obediently followed. The doctor uses his training to choose the proper procedures and therapies that will most likely improve the patient’s condition or restore his or her health in this paternalistic paradigm of doctor-patient interaction. Any information given to the patient is specifically chosen to sway them to follow the doctor’s advice. This idea of asymmetrical or imbalanced contact between a doctor and patient has been under investigation over the past 20 years. A more active, independent, and consequently patient-centered role for the patient has been proposed by critics who favor enhanced patient control, diminished medical authority, and greater mutual participation. A patient-centered approach has been defined as one in which “the doctor tries to enter the patient’s world, to see the illness through the patient’s eyes.” This method has taken over clinical practice today.