There is global increase access to information and internet is one of the major driving forces of that revolution of changing trend in patients. Every day the World information level is increasing, so also access to such. Between 2005 and 2007 about 60 million web servers alone were added globally. As at 1995 less than 1%of world population had access to internet but by 2014 up to 43% does.
The cost of of internet access too is coming down thus further promoting this information accessibility. The change is fueling a subgroup of patients who are well knowledge about their conditions or have instant access to such information. Although that same information explosion is affecting doctors and other health workers too, most especially the open access movement which helps information accessibility of current researches most especially to health workers in developing countries. The knowledgeable patient is armed with information to be an effective partner in getting recovery but on the other side arm to challenge the active-passive traditional relationship between doctor and patient.
The appetite of patient for more excellent outcome is no doubt increasing possibly cruzzing on general apetite for better service or consumer experience. Furthermore the increasing purchasing over the decade have made patient to have increasing better expectation.
Gradually the age long paternalistic disposition of a physician is gradually being eroded although, the teaching in Med School too is driving this reorientation.the patient. Patients are now being more than ever wanted to determine what is good for them not just leaving it solely to the professionals.
The managed care practice globally is empowering the patient to be an empowered utilizer of care of especially because of the leverage health insurance provide quite unlike the fee paying where you cough out the whole bigger money at point of care without access to the benefit of pool fund health insurance provides with smaller less burdensome contribution.
Another reflection of these changes is ever increasing health related litigations which have pushed some medical practitioners into defensive Medicine. According to Mohr JC in his article in JAMA titled American medical malpractice litigation in historical perspective where he has tried to trace why US lead and continued having increase malpractice litigation he
identified the following contingent fees, citizen juries, the innovative pressures on American medicine and the spread of uniform standards etc.
A sub group of patients have emerged with readiness to sue in collaboration with an emerging class of legal practitioners exploiting this opportunity. Certainly quite a number of such litigation emanate from medical errors and clear case negligence. Again increase access to information have increase awareness of such possibilities of thing going wrong in the confine of hospitals and other medical care centre may be contributory.
As the health landscape is changing there is no doubt that the patients too are gradually changing, patient expectations and assessment are not just by technical outcome but an holistic one with comfort inclusive.
The good side of it is having an informed patient- it aid compliance and good outcome but the ugly side of it is if you err there are well informed patients that may just want to chew you! Not that majority of patients coming to the hospitals does with malevolent intent rather their are a small group that would not forgive any malpractice or negligence etc or any appearance of this. Therefore as practitioner awareness is one step to avoiding this pitfall and evolving change!
Field Snow
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