Doctors' communication of trust, care, and respect: It takes two to make therapeutic relationship work

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7451.1318-a

BMJ 2004;328:1318 (29 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7451.1318-a

Letter

Doctors' communication of trust, care, and respect

It takes two to make therapeutic relationship work

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

EDITOR—The qualitative study of Burkitt Wright et al ondoctors' communication of trust, care, and respect in breastcancer provides much that is useful for both practitioner andteacher to consider about communicating and functioning wellas a healthcare professional.¹ However, any form of relationshipby necessity involves more than one person, so the responsibilityfor this relationship cannot solely rest with the doctor.

To look at a professional responsibility in isolation ignoresthe role that the patient has in forming a therapeutic relationship.A follow up study on this group of doctors comparing the doctors'and patients' attitudes about what made a better therapeuticrelationship would be interesting. A doctor might act in a particularlyuseful way in response to the way a patient consults or presents.

Credit: BSIP/CABY, VALENCE/SPL

The authors also cite evidence that many patients prefer tobe directed about treatment rather than given . . . [Full text of this article]

June Jones, lecturer in biomedical ethics

Department of Primary Care, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT J.Jones.1@bham.ac.uk

Derek Willis, graduate entry moderator

Medical School, University of Birmingham

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Doctors' communication of trust, care, and respect in breast cancer: qualitative study: Emma Burkitt Wright, Christopher Holcombe, and Peter Salmon
BMJ 2004 328: 864. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]