Patient-Centered Care
Dr Freeman: The expectation of trust is a critical component of the physician-patient relationship. The patient should not fear telling the truth...if they are taking a three times daily medication once a day, or not at all, they should not be reluctant to tell the doctor that they are not taking it three times a day.
Dr Freeman: A key concept is to progress therapy carefully because there are toxicity issues and drug interactions. Some patients have aversions to needles, and the challenge for those individuals is to show them the injection process and how easy it is. Once they have self-injected, it is usually not a problem, and the barrier is overcome.
Dr Spellman: It is important to keep in mind that the patient is the one with the disease, and he or she should assume responsibility for participating in the management of the disease. The clinician's job is to make recommendations and show the patient what is available.
Dr Gavin: Clinicians should try to help patients understand why the medicine is helping; that insight will drive patients' change in behavior. This takes time because clinicians have to teach and demonstrate.
Dr Stolar: Clinicians spend too much time focusing on the numbers and not enough time on helping the patient understand what is going on with their disease at each visit. If the HbA1c comes down, the patient should understand why he or she was successful. Conversely, if the patient is doing poorly, he or she should understand how the clinician can address the failures.