The state of the physician-patient working alliance: Chronic pain patients speak
Lewis Terri
National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan
: Analg Resusc: Curr Res
Abstract
The presenter will offer the results of a national survey conducted across groups of consumers who have chronic and intractable pain syndromes. Researchers are now investigating the direct role that the physician-patient and pharmacistpatient relationship plays in the treatment and outcome of chronic and serious medical issues on chronic pain derived from a variety of medical conditions. Despite efforts to examine the relationship via factors, a conceptualization of the current working alliance between patients and treating providers has not been clearly articulated. This is particularly important in light of the influence exerted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration on physician autonomy, opioid access limitations imposed upon and by dispensing pharmacies, changes in state regulations, and the interplay with alternative forms of treatment. Understanding the impact of these issues on patients, their families and resources, and the interplay between patient factors and provider-patient trust and treatment is important. Additionally, faulty assumptions, cognitive biases, and gaps in services imposed by the medical model, distribution of treating providers, influence of pay or source, and the failure to incorporate effective additional supports will be offered for feedback and discussion. Measures derived from the following measurements will be compared: Physician-Patient Working Alliance Scale, Perceived Utility Scale, Treatment Adherence Self-Efficacy Scale, Medical Outcome Study Adherence Scale, Physician Empathy Questionnaire, Physician Multicultural Competence Questionnaire, Medical Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire, and related collection instruments.
Biography
Lewis Terri has extensive experience in the development and administration of community programs and systems of care for persons with disabilities and chronic health impairments. Her work life represents broad community rehabilitation industry experience, having served as a special education teacher; the Director of an overseas embassy based mental health program in the People’s Republic of China; and collaborator with local, state, and federal agencies to create community mental health and rehabilitation services for unserved and underserved persons with a wide variety of needs. She serves on the faculties of National Changhua University of Education in the Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Counseling and Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the Rehabilitation Institute. She collaborates with vocational programs in the USA and Southeast Asia on the design of community based rehabilitation with special emphasis on Allied Health care coordination. She holds a BS in Special Education from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, OH; an MS in Special Education, Multi-handicapped from Montana State University in Billings, MT; and a PhD in Rehabilitation from SIU Carbondale. She has served as the volunteer patient navigator for consumers injured by the fungal meningitis outbreak of 2012 and has contributed hundreds of hours of patient education to families, legal teams, physicians, and the staff of the Senate HELP Committee. She has served on the Patient Safety work group that contributed to the Drug Quality and Safety Act. She is working on a book about this outbreak, examining the factors that led to the outbreak, the public health response, and implications for patient safety and consumer supports.
