Unit 7 Life
Critical reading and thinking
Topics for presentation
3 In what way can patient empowerment be good for the patient?
• Respect for the patient, especially the patient’s autonomy • Patient-center care • The Patients as decision maker based on the information provided by the doctor
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Topics for presentation
2 What is paternalistic decision-making in medicine?
• Doctors as exclusive decision maker • Patients as participants without little say in the final choice
学术英语 医学
Academic English for Medicine
Unit 7
Physician-Patient Relationship
Life can be hard. Relationships are often difficult. In an era of fast advancing medical technology, rapidly changing medical ethics, and in increasingly litigious society, good physicianpatient relationship is critically important for effective health care delivery. This unit sheds some light on how to build such a relationship to help us through the unpredictability in life.
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Useful expressions
• 护士站 nursing station • 停止使用呼吸机并停药/停止治疗 withdraw life-support machines and medications / treatment • …who was impressive not only for his clinical skills but also for his devotion to patients • …who was impressive not only for his clinical skills but also for his devotion to patients • I told them suffering or comfort — it was their decision. • But in the end, they made no decision and just walked right out of the room
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Unit Contents
Lead-in Text A
Text B Text C Listening Speaking Writing Get reading for Unit 8
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Lead-in
• Issues to be covered • Task
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Lead-in
Task: Read the title of Text A and imagine three different situations in which doctors may be asked to make “tough decisions” for their patients. Then write them down.
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Topics for presentation
3 In what way can patient empowerment be good for the patient?
Two principles /tenets / notions involved in the decision-making process
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Topics for presentation
• Decide whether life-support system should be continued or withdrawn; • Decide whether euthanasia should be considered; • Decide whether a new therapy should be tried; • Decide whether surgery should be the first choice or the last resort; • Decide whether transfer or referral is needed.
•
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Topics for presentation
1 What difficult situation is the young doctor facing??
• A dying patient • Decision whether to withdraw life-support machines and medication and start comfort measures • The family’s refusal to make any decision or withdraw any treatments
• respect for the person a new clinical ideal: patient-centered care in wards, clinics and operating rooms • respect for a person’s autonomy letting patients make their own decisions
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Lead-in Issues to be covered
• The shift from paternalistic paradigm to patient-center paradigm in medical decision making • The importance of good physician-patient relationship in both the medical practice and the patient’s recovery • Things that counts in maintaining a amiable physicianpatient relationship • The way to communicate properly and effectively with the patients
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Useful expressions
• …a majority of patients are being left to make decisions that they never wanted to in the first place. • When it came to medical decisions, almost all the respondents wanted their doctors to offer choices and consider their opinions. • But a majority of patients — two out of three — also preferred that their doctors make the final decisions regarding their medical care. • …not when the medical choices are obvious, but when the best option for a patient is uncertain • …when doctors pass the burden of decision-making to a patient or family, it can exacerbate an already stressful situation.
Unit 7 Life and Medicine
Text A
Critical reading and thinking
Topics for presentation
4 Why does the author say too much physician restraint may not be that good for the patient?