Inquiry J Health Car
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Larger, more complex medical care organizations have the inherent capability to improve the quality of the care they deliver because of the improved competency that follows higher volumes of service, the interdependence of staff, and the emergence of responsible leadership in large organizations. The potential for slackened physician-patient relationships, however, could jeopardize that quality. We suggest that professional associations can counterbalance the negative influences of large organizations. We envision that the changing political and economic environment of medical practice, along with the greater professional and public scrutiny of care in highly visible large organizations, will act together to exert pressure on organized practices to examine and demonstrate quality clinical practice.
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Working with the ethical principles of beneficence and autonomy, I address three questions: How can communication between physicians and their patients be improved? How does the public availability of practice guidelines and other alternative sources of health information influence the interactions between physicians and patients? How can a partnership in health care in which the patient and the physician share responsibility be achieved? Educating patients for a partnership in health care will offer a further incentive for physicians to enter and sustain such a partnership.