Theme issue for patients: A picture tells a thousand words

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7412.448

BMJ 2003;327:448 (23 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7412.448

Letter

Theme issue for patients

A picture tells a thousand words

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—It's become a ritual. First thing every Friday morning I log onto the BMJ, anticipating some interesting feature, latest research news, and generally to keep myself informed.This morning, however, was a disaster. Smith talks of "patient partnership"—but what I saw smacks of paternalism and tokenism.¹ I am not necessarily referring to the content.

The layout, design, and visuals are enough to confirm my point.Why does an issue for patients have to be adorned with hugeheaders, glossy pictures, and a delicate swirl of colour hereand there? Is the assumption that patients' attention spanis possibly less than that of a health professional, or that their eyesight is generally poorer, or that their intellectualinterest will be attracted only via the visual? It is ironicthat an issue claiming to spur on this collaborative and "equal"relationship between doctor and patient should so blatantlyreinforce . . . [Full text of this article]

Rosetta Manaszewicz, steering committee member

Breast Cancer Action Group (Victoria), PO Box 381, Fairfield, Victoria 3078, Australia rmanasz@optushome.com.au

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Article

Preparing for partnership: Richard Smith
BMJ 2003 326: 0. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Hear, hear, for colour and swirls: karen j houghton
bmj.com, 28 Aug 2003 [Full text]
Only words picture depth, of meaning and of vision: Pepi Granat, MD, et al.
bmj.com, 29 Aug 2003 [Full text]