Patients and Physicians - good "fit"

With apologies for my absence here recntly .. I'll begin again ...

From BMJ

Qualitative study of the meaning of personal care in general practice

This is an interesting article that looked at how patients and physicians perceive "personal care."

Patients, general practitioners, primary care nurses, and administrative staff hold similar views on the meaning of personal care, despite differences of emphasis reflecting their different roles. Personal care is promoted by but not always dependent on a continuing provider-patient relationship; human communication and individualised care emerged as important in making care personal whatever the context. Most respondents valued relationships in primary care and had clear ideas about when care in the context of a relationship was most valuable.

^{We (and our patients) know when things "click" between a patient and physician .. and when things don't.  This study is the first objective assesment of these very important componenst between the physician and patient.}