The relationship between practitioner and patient forms the foundation of health care and is vitally important to both parties. This relationship is the vehicle for exchanging information, feelings, and concerns, a factor in the success of treatment, and an essential component in the satisfaction of both patient and practitioner. While some aspects of the changing health care system--such as an emphasis on health promotion and attention to the outcomes of care--may encourage and strengthen patient-clinician relationships, other characteristics may threaten these relationships and clinicians' ability to help students learn about them. Cost-containment efforts, pressures for greater productivity, a managerial rather than professional perspective on health care, and increased reliance on technology all have the potential to inhibit the capacity of practitioners to develop and demonstrate effective, caring relationships with their patients

Back to EPIC homepage