ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on experience and material derived from the Computer Memory Program of the Bellevue Hospital Center's Geriatric Mental Health Clinic, New York City. It focuses on the communication process between patients on the one hand and their physicians on the other. If cognitive decline is present, its effect on a particular patient at a particular time has to be evaluated, including any changes in daily life functioning. The chapter focuses on the cognitive aspects of patient treatment requires a more detailed discussion of the nature of cognition itself. It stresses the possibility that these human errors could seriously harm the patients' treatment and the doctor-patient relationship. The interaction between patients and health-care providers has been analyzed as an exchange of information between two essentially unequal partners.
