Question

CHAPTER 3 Patient-Caregiver Communication Ben noticed a lump in his breast just after his fifty-eighth birthday Embarrassed about the problem, he avoided mentioning it to his wife for sev- eral months, thinking it would probably go away on its oren. When she learned about it, his wife encouraged, then begged Ben to see a doctor. In the nert few months other family members joined her entreaties. Finally, Ben made a doc- tor's appointment. On the day of the appointment the family was anzious to hear what the doctor said. Imagine their surprise when Ben returned and said the visit went justfine,"but he didn't tell the doctor about the lump. When the shocked family asked why, Ben shrugged and said, "He didn't ask me." his true story illustrates some of the complex factors that affect patient-caregiver communication. Although it may sound foolish not to tell a physician about our health concerns, research suggests that episodes like Ben's occur quite frequently. In a classic study of 800 visits to a pediatric emergency clinic, 26% of the parents said they did not tell the doctor what concerned them most (Korsch & Negrete, 1972). In this case, Ben felt that the doctor did not encourage him or even give him a chance to share the information. Health professionals may see the matter differently, wondering why patients seem to play guessing games with them rather than coming to the point. The issue is even more complicated when language barriers are an issue. Hispanic women interviewed for one study described a discouraging cycle in which they struggled to express themselves in English, which seemed to frus- trate their doctors, which in turn made the women feel even more tongue tied Julliard et al., 2008). Especially when the women's concerns involved sen- sitive issues such as genital health, domestic violence, or sexual orientation they were most likely to stay silent about them, even though they wanted their doctors to know. Most of the women said they could overcome their hesitaney when doctors seemed compassionate and interested and when they use skilled interpreters as needed. This chapter examines what happens during medical transactions-who talks, who listens, and how people behave. As you will see, communicating 42

Using the book, write another paragraph or two: write 170 words:

Q: Compare the assumptions of physician-centered and collaborative communication. How is the caregiver’s role different in each model? How is the patient’s role different?

Answer: Physical-centered communication involves the specialists taking control of the conversation. They decide on the topics of discussion and when to end the process. The patient responds to the issues raised by the caregiver and acts accordingly. On the other hand, Collaborative communication involves a mutual relationship between the caregiver and the patient. As peers, they engage in open discussions and joint decisions that satisfy both participants. The patient is the problem solver and principal decision maker. The caregiver acts as a counselor guiding through the process (Brennan et al., 2015).

Brennan, P. F., Valdez, R., Greg, A., Arora, S., Bernstam, E., Edmunds, M., …Trent, R. (2014). Patient-centred care, collaboration, communication, and coordination: a report from AMIA's 2013 Policy Meeting. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Volume 22, Issue e1, 1 April 2015

Answer 1

In physician-centered communication, the caregivers do majority of the talking, they are the ones who choose the conversational topics, and begin and end each communication episodes.
Physician-centered communication is more traditional communication which generally supports a power differential as caregiver has more power in comparison to the patient which have both benefits and disadvantages. On the other hand, collaborative communication aims to make both parties (caregiver and patient) equal partners. As a result, it is neither entirely patient centered nor caregiver centered as both parties work together.