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4 Ways You Can Improve Your Patients’ Engagement
By: David B. Troxel, MD and Robin Diamond, MSN, JD, RN
Patient engagement has emerged as a key component of reducing the likelihood of an adverse outcome — both clinical and medicolegal.
Case study: Failure to communicate
A 42-year-old patient arrived for her annual gynecologist appointment complaining of a self-detected breast lump. She had several questions about her condition and wanted to tell her doctor about a family history of breast cancer.
The doctor was in a hurry, therefore, he advised her to talk to the staff. However, the staff was busy with other patients. They told her to call them later. However, the patient did not call.
The gynecologist ordered a mammogram but did not include the patient’s complaint of the breast lump on the requisition. The mammogram was read as “normal” but the report noted a “very dense stromal pattern.” This reduces the sensitivity of the study for the detection of cancer.
The radiologist did not recommend an ultrasound and described the mammogram as “normal” in the report to the gynecologist. Therefore, a follow-up appointment was not scheduled.
Several months later, the patient scheduled another appointment with the gynecologist when she noticed…
