Practicing patient-centered care: The questions clinically excellent physicians use to get to know their patients as individuals

Background and Objective: Patient-centered care, which is dependent on knowing each patient as an individual, has been identified as a critical aspect of healthcare. The most effective and efficient methods to get to know patients as individuals have not been defined. Our aim was to identify questions and phrases that can be used by physicians to get to know their patients. Methods: We surveyed 15 physicians who have been formally recognized for their clinical excellence to determine what questions or phrases they use when interviewing patients to get to know them as individuals. Results: A total of 28 questions or phrases were received from 13 physicians and were qualitatively analyzed and grouped into six major themes: (i) appreciation of the patient concerns; (ii) personal relationships; (iii) hobbies and pleasurable activities; (iv) open-ended questions to learn about the patient; (v) work; and (vi) the patient perspective on the patient-physician relationship. Conclusion: This work identifies questions and phrases used by clinically excellent physicians to get to know their patients as people. Future work should focus on obtaining the perspectives of patients, and on examining whether using the identified questions and phrases results in an improved patient experience as demonstrated by improved satisfaction ratings, ratings on the quality of physician-patient interaction, or patient outcomes.