“Doctor and patient communication” at the center of the new appointment with the advanced management course

The impact of disintermediated communication on the doctor-patient relationship is at the center of the new appointment with the Advanced Medical Management and Health Policies Course, organized by the Order of Surgeons and Dentists of the Province of Catanzaro. This training event, at the forefront in Italy, was desired with determination by the president of the Medical Association of Catanzaro, Doctor Vincenzo Ciconte.

Now in its 13th edition, the Course – directed by Dr Lino Puzzonia – will end on November 8th in the Conference Room of the Hotel Guglielmo. The training module on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October was supervised by the doctor Concetta Maria Vaccaro of the Censis Foundation in Rome.

Dr. Vaccaro focused on the profound evolution of the figure of the patient, who “becomes more and more autonomous and responsible, and who expects to have a different relationship with his doctor. Disintermediated access to health information is certainly the catalyst for this change in the doctor-patient relationship, in which the information asymmetry, which has historically characterized the relationship, is transforming into an increasingly equal collaboration in choices and decisions regarding your own health.

Patient empowerment can have positive effects, such as increasing awareness, greater commitment to prevention and improvement in the management of chronicity: “This represents a value for both the patient and the national healthcare system. However, it is important to note that behind the episodes of growing aggression towards the medical profession lies a complex motivation. In fact, we observe a loss of the aura that doctors have always had, linked to this democratization of medical knowledge”, underlined Vaccaro.

On the other hand, although the patient always feels more expert, he is never completely so and sometimes must recognize the limits of his access to information. “True aggression, in my opinion, is only partially the result of this cultural evolution; it is more linked to a growing dissatisfaction with the functioning of healthcare facilities, which is then erroneously attributed to the doctor, the immediate interface with the patient.

Therefore, it is not so much a question of the authority of the medical figure, but rather the impression that the system works less and less. “The promises made during the pandemic have been disregarded, and this disillusionment often translates into an aggressive attitude, not so much towards the doctor himself, but rather as a consequence of dissatisfaction with the inability of the healthcare system to adapt to new needs” , concluded Vaccaro.

“This week’s module is particularly important because, unlike previous years, in which there was a thematic fil rouge that connected the various modules, this year the central theme is the current nature of the issues we face,” he underlined Dr. Lino Puzzonia. “In particular, the doctor-patient relationship seems extremely relevant to us at this moment, considering the many aspects that this relationship presents on a daily basis in hospitals and medical practices. Therefore, we felt it was essential to highlight some of these aspects.”

The organizational secretariat is of the “Present&Future” Agency.