Patients, providers, health and who has the power?
This post is in response to World Health Care Blog, for 11/24/07 by Scott MacStravic:
Hospitals have another obstacle, which is learning to persuade and motivate people who have not relinquished power to them. When a “patient” comes into to a hospital for treatment of some disease the power in the relationship is clearly understood–the hospital has it. The success of the treatment is in the hands of the doctors and nurses. The health priorities of the patient, their behavior patterns, levels of trust or self-efficacy are generally irrelevant. This is easy to prove because no hospitals include this kind of information in the patient chart for nurses and physicians to consider during patient interactions (if there are any hospitals are out there who do, feel free to write in an prove me wrong). Patients do what they are told and they are expected to behave themselves. In terms of treatment delivery, the patient is little more than a cog. The whole mentality of hospital medicine is based on this paradigm. People with the health risks you mentioned (e.g., obesity, smoking, inadequate sleep) generally do not admit they have them or recognize them as severe. These folks are the way they are and see it as their right to be so. Out beyond hospital walls the paradigm of the power relationship is different. In the wellness world, the success of the treatment is in the hands of the person who has not assumed the patient role. These folks will not just do what they are told. The health priorities of the person and how these shape behavior are front and center, and must be dealt with. Unfortunately, this is the area where hospitals have the least experience or know how.
Tags: Add new tag, health, hospital care, patient care, wellness
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