Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have developed an assessment tool that determines whether a doctor is able to deliver patient-centered care.
The researchers are testing the assessment tool on third year medical students at the University of Missouri. They worked with patients to identify which behaviors demonstrated when a physician was providing patient-centered care. Students are quizzed on how they interact with standardized patients ranging from adolescents to senior citizens, how to solicit information from the patient, and how to create a management and care plan that reflects the patient's preferences.
"The test forces the future physician to go beyond just determining a diagnosis and to focus on behaviors that play an essential role to the effectiveness of the care he or she provides," Kimberly Hoffman, Ph.D, associate dean for curriculum and assessment, and research associate professor of family and community medicine at MU, said in a statement.
Researched based on the tool was published in a recent issue of the journal Medical Teacher.
