Beyond Information: Exploring Patients’ Preferences
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Date
2009
Authors
Epstein, Ronald
Peters, Ellen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Medical Association
Abstract
The Institute of Medicine considers patient-centered
care (“care that is respectful of and responsive
to individual patient preferences, needs and values”
1(p6)) to be a foundation of high-quality health care,
along with effectiveness, safety, efficiency, timeliness, and equity.
Patient-centered care is empirically based and promotes
respect and patient autonomy; it is considered an end in itself,
not merely a means to achieve other health outcomes.2
Two parallel efforts have furthered patient-centered care.
Shared decision making promotes defining problems, presenting
options, and providing high-quality information so patients
can participate more actively in care.3 Patient-centered
communication promotes healing relationships that elicit and
consider patients’ perspectives and understand patients as persons.
2 Both approaches assume that patients can articulate preferences
based on stable guiding principles or values. While
this may be true in straightforward situations, in novel, unanticipated,
and emotionally charged situations, preferences
may not be elicited as much as they are constructed—shaped
by how information is presented and by the opinions of family,
friends, and the media. This Commentary explores how
physicians might reconcile the imperative to provide patient-centered
care with the complex ways in which clinicians and
patients construct preferences.
Description
4 pages
Keywords
Health policy
Citation
Epstein, R. M., & Peters, E. (2009). Beyond information: Exploring patient's preferences. JAMA, 302, 195-197.