Patientperspektivet på læge-patientrelationen i ... - Dagens Medicin

of autonomy. It was valuable to the patients to have a regular doctor because they often had an
”irrational” need to create a relationship with the doctor. There was an analytic pattern; the sicker
the patient, the more vulnerable, the more in need of care from a regular doctor and vice versa. The
patients would not ”doctor shop” if they were dissatisfied. Vulnerability resulted in not acting as
rational consumers.
Conclusion
The vulnerability accompanying disease seems to put people in a special position in which the
consumer mentality does not dominate. The interpersonal continuous doctor-patient relationship is
still valuable in general practice. Recognition theory explains why it is valuable for the doctor to
take the patient seriously, and attachment theory explains why patients are vulnerable, and why
interpersonal continuity is valuable to the patients. The two theories create a synthesis that provides
a deeper understanding of what creates patient satisfaction in the doctor-patient relationship in an
individualised society.
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