No two patients are the same, and no two treatments are the same. I was recently trying to explain the process of “informed consent” as part of the treatment dynamic. It’s an ongoing and complex process that lasts for the duration of each treatment.
Osteopaths work in partnership with their patients, adapting their communication approach to consider the particular needs of each patient while also supporting patients to express what is important to them. This begins with the case history at the first appointment and continues through the entire treatment process, so that informed consent is achieved at every stage.
During treatment I want to know how the patient is feeling, as we are working together to facilitate the best and most beneficial outcome. Patients don’t hand over to me control of their health – they continue to have autonomy and, should they want me to stop or to reflect how they are feeling at any point, they only have to say stop or let me know and I will take a break, listen, adapt the treatment and discuss how they are feeling.
It is only by understanding where we each are during a treatment that makes the treatment effective or, I should say, optimally effective. It’s those moments where, as a clinician, I lose myself in the process that my most successful treatments occur. I believe that in these moments my patients are in the moment with me, as we are embarking on treatment together as a PARTNERSHIP.
To achieve shared decision making during a treatment requires that the patient’s cultural and personal values be taken into consideration, alongside the osteopath’s skills, experience and competence and the best available evidence. This type of practice focuses on individuals and their own unique values, whether as patients or practitioners, and is also linked to evidence-informed methods for supporting clinical judgement.
As a practitioner, taking a values-based, collaborative approach means listening to my patients and understanding what matters to them as individuals, this includes discussing with them their concerns and what they want to achieve through treatment so that these factors can be included in my decision-making.
By Glynis Fox