“I need someone to keep an eye on me:” the power of attention in patient-practitioner interactions

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the importance of patient care and to explicate the impact of attention on my recovery from bilateral knee replacement surgery and a subsequent revision.

Method: The paper uses vignettes to illustrate attention in patient-practitioner interaction.

Results: Attention is a precursor to understanding the patient as a unique individual and the problems the patient brings to the therapy experience.

Conclusions: The capacity of practitioners to attend to their patients has an impact on patient satisfaction and recovery.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Attention is the precursor to establishing positive therapeutic alliances with patients.

• It is essential to attend to the patient as a person with unique experiences, perspectives, and attitudes and to modify treatment based on the person’s priorities and desires.

• Practitioners need to develop the interaction skills necessary to understand their patients as unique individuals.

Keywords:

• Bilateral knee surgery
• knee replacement
• patient perspectives
• rehabilitation
• therapeutic alliance

Acknowledgements

I am most grateful to Ellen S. Cohn, Linda Wilson, and the members of the UNH Occupational Therapy Department Writing Group, Sajay Arthanat, Razan Hamed, Vidya Sundar, and Kerryellen Vroman, for feedback on this paper. I also thank Mary Lawlor for suggesting Berger’s book, Ways of Seeing.

Declaration of interest

The author reports no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1 Synvisc trademark is an injection that lubricates and cushions the knee to reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis.