Rethinking Doctor-Patient Relationships

Transformation of doctor-patient relationships will be essential to the success of efforts to achieve patient-centered care, as envisioned in the IOM report, Crossing the Quality Chasm. This research investigates new ways of structuring doctor-patient relationships by studying five innovative practices: 1) cancer self-help and advocacy because it offers new sources of support and shared authority among peers, 2) palliative care because it demands maintenance of trust while shifting the overall goal of care, 3) complementary medicine because it embraces approaches that rely upon disparate models and promises to serve a broad range of patient needs, 4) group visits for chronic illness care because they draw upon shared experience and learning among patients, and 5) new communications curricula in medical education because they can prepare physicians to assume new roles with patients. Study of these four spheres of care as well as innovations in medical education is designed to yield lessons for improving doctor-patient relationships and quality of health care.