Patient-Practitioner Information Exchange as an Asymmetrical Social Encounter: Do Patients Actually Know What Their Practitioners Think They Know?

This chapter explores some of the factors that contribute to an asymmetrical practitioner-patient interaction that in turn may result in health-related behaviors that do not necessarily correspond with the recommendations of the medical practitioners. Information exchange between practitioners and their patients and patient knowledge are increasingly seen as important factors in effective health-care promotion, it is important to identify and address the factors that inhibit information exchange, and conceptual and pragmatic frameworks to enhance the communication competency of the interactants. One of the medical professional's main goals in the practitioner-patient encounter is having their patient successfully follow the recommended medical regimen. Knowledge and information enable lay persons to participate in their own health care. A growing body of literature suggests that patients' personal beliefs play an important part in adherence to medical recommendations. Western culture emphasizes the biomedical model of conceptualizing health conditions.