What is ‘Patient Care’ and Why it’s So Important

At its most basic level, patient care is simply the act of caring for patients.

However, the more common model that providers often follow today is patient-centered or person-centered care.

With this practice model, the provider should view the patient in their entirety to fully understand the possible problems and how the individual can be treated most effectively.

When practiced as intended, patient-centered care yields better long-term outcomes and a higher quality of care. Some of the primary considerations of high-quality patient care include:

• Emotional and Social Needs
• Religious and Spiritual Value
• Financial Capacity

Quality of Interactions

Many of us have had experiences with a provider where we feel like they didn’t quite listen or didn’t adequately address questions or concerns. Or maybe you find out later that there was a misunderstanding that could have been prevented if your doctor had taken a little more time to talk with you.

Many can feel disheartened by these experiences and may choose not to follow up with the doctor or lose the motivation to be an engaged participant in their care. This can affect our health outcomes in the immediate future and ongoing.

Now, suppose you consider an experience where you spoke with your doctor. They were engaged, seemed receptive to your questions and concerns, and took the time to understand you as a person. In that case, you may have had a very different experience.

An example may be going to the doctor with a recurring problem where you’re given medication and sent on your way. At some point, you see a different provider who explains a little more about what is happening. They ask additional questions about your day-to-day life to determine if the current treatment is appropriate and then schedule a follow-up to ensure the treatment is working and identify any adjustments needed to truly be effective. This can often have a very different effect on how you engage with them and your own health.

Tailored Care

Looking at the above examples, it sounds like one interaction is clearly better than another. However, the copay for an office visit may be incredibly expensive, or maybe the patient doesn’t have insurance, making every visit a stretch. In this case, the first provider may be more appropriate for this particular patient.

This nuance is what makes a dedication to patient-centered care so critical. What is ideal for one person may be financially crippling another.  A provider who is in tune with their patients and takes time with them should be more able to determine the most appropriate course for each patient.

When Patient Care is Poor

Quality patient care is critical to health outcomes, and when patients fail to receive good care, it breeds and spreads to whole communities. This phenomenon is widespread among many communities that experience inadequate patient care. Some more prevalent examples of affected communities are Americans of color and women.

Discriminatory Disparities in Patient Care

The presence of disparities among these groups is well documented. The Penn Medicine Center for Health Equity and Advancement discusses the prevalence of disparities in patient care due to several factors, including unconscious bias in providers. A 2021 article from the Mayo Clinic discusses racism in medicine. One of the comments of note is that many physicians report that they prefer working with white patients because they feel these patients are more cooperative.

When we examine statements like this, we see a devastating lack of understanding of the importance of holistic and patient-centered care. They consider the patient an individual with an entire history of experience and likely have mistrust in medical professionals.

Misdiagnoses

Pain management is another area where we see countless studies that go back decades reporting that black Americans and women are more likely to receive inadequate care. Women often face accusations that their pain is psychological in nature, leaving them without appropriate pain management and prolonging suffering. In a recent study on gender biases in cardiovascular diseases, researchers noted that women are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed with a heart attack than men.

Dermatology is a field that sees higher rates of misdiagnoses in black populations. An article focusing on racial disparities in dermatology suggests this is due to the lack of representation in medical education. As the Penn Medicine page suggested above, unconscious bias likely affects a lack of effort to find appropriate education. These misdiagnoses are often due to physicians unfamiliar with what conditions may look like on skin with more melanin.

How Does Patient Care Affect Outcomes?

Consider the examples of doctor interactions above. When doctors take the time to build a relationship and trust with their patients, we see an exchange that encourages more honesty from patients and physicians, who can make more informed and specialized care plans for their patients.

Not only do patients benefit from a more appropriate care plan from their provider, but they are also more likely to follow it because it was created with their needs in mind.

An example of this may be a doctor who puts a patient on a strict medical diet for a weight or nutrition-related condition but fails to provide adequate resources to support or treat a co-occurring condition that affects appetite or impulse control with food. The health outcomes for this treatment are far less likely to be positive when the physician fails to treat the whole person.

However, if the same situation occurs, but the doctor takes time to address the patient’s daily experiences, they may discover this co-occurring issue, and with the appropriate resources, treatment, or medication, this patient can manage their condition.

The Value of Patient Care

You should be able to trust your doctor to listen to you, take your concerns seriously, and use their education and training to support your well-being. No one knows your body better than you do, and when physicians ignore their patients’ experience, it’s negligent. Many physicians genuinely want to do right by their patients, but the healthcare system is not always set up for that, stretching doctors too thin and leading to subpar care. This can lead to mistakes, misdiagnoses, medication errors, or negligence and malpractice.

Call a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Today

You may know your body and experience better than anyone else, but you also go to your doctor for their experience and expertise on how your body functions. When they fail to provide good patient care, you may leave without getting what you need and suffering more than you should. Suppose you have faced poor patient care that resulted in a missed diagnosis, your physician’s failure to treat you, or a dangerous exacerbation of symptoms. In that case, you may be eligible for compensation. Contact medical malpractice lawyers at Lopez McHugh today to schedule a free case consultation and identify the best legal options for you.