Inappropriate health care is an escalating and expensive problem. It affects high income, middle income, and low income countries and wastes billions of dollars annually as well as harming individuals and communities. Patient-perspective care demands that the decisions health professionals make are in the service of patient’s goals.
Key Features
- Original Approach: This book describes a novel, fresh approach to delivering health services.
- Patient Satisfaction: Many long-standing and expensive problems such as missed appointments will disappear.
- Efficiency and Effectiveness: Health services generally will be more efficient and effective, leading to more sustainable and affordable health care.
Additional Information
Inappropriate care refers to both the overuse and underuse of tests and treatments and, ironically, can occur concurrently within the same health system. Even though patient-centred care is still the prevailing ethos, specifying where patients should be situated geographically has not required health professionals to consider the preferences, values, and priorities of patients when making treatment decisions. This book details the extent and scope of inappropriate care and how we have arrived in this position. The necessity for patient-perspective care is outlined and provides a theoretical framework that explains why patient-perspective care is so critical. The implications of this theory are then explored and specific strategies for moving towards a patient-perspective approach are discussed.
