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Balance of power

In another of our occasional discussions on matters of clinical communication, Andy Millington and Dr Helen Court describe how information flow is influenced by the balance of power between the participants in a clinical interaction

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In part, this change in attitudes has led to patients' increasingly viewing healthcare as a 'preventative' process, rather than purely a 'curative' process. In some respects this empowers patients, making them responsible for their own health outcomes. However, it also shifts the dynamic towards a consumerist approach. The patient needs a service. In a preventative market the patient becomes consumer. The need for appointments that are not 'cure driven' means that we have to attract patients to use our service and we are in a 'buyers' market.'1 Even the term 'healthcare provider' is part of this shift. While empowering for patients they create a different attitude to our services.

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