“Expert patient”—dream or nightmare?

Shaw and Baker

Thank you for raising this important but potentially volatile issue.
In my country (as in most other places I believe), the "expert patient" is
still a rarity and looked upon with curiosity. We know that they are
there, but not quite what to do with them. This situation may very well
explode, with patients demanding more than we can handle. This will harm
the medical profession as much as the patients. But as you so well point
out this challenge may be turned into something positive. The first step
in this process is to get the terminology straight, so we know what we are
discussing. I fully support your suggestion of "The involved patient", it
should be understood by most patients as well as doctors. It is even
easily translated into Norwegian, as into most other languages, thus
having the potential for becoming a universal term.

The next step however is even more important; how to defuse, or
turning this potential explosive situation into something constructive in
the doctor-patient relationship. As a medical profession we need to take
an active part in this process. I am thus much interested in hearing other
peoples ideas of how best to proceed.

Per Hjortdahl, professor

Department of general practice,
University of Oslo
and
Norwegian Centre for Telemedicine,
University hospital of North Norway, Tromsø

Competing interests:
None declared