Patient-centredness: meaning and propriety in the Botswana, African and non-Western contexts

• Published in: African journal of primary health care & family medicine Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. E1 - E4
• Main Authors: Setlhare, Vincent, Couper, Ian, Wright, Anne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: South Africa African Online Scientific Information Systems (Pty) Ltd t/a AOSIS 01.01.2014; AOSIS (Pty) Ltd; AOSIS OpenJournals; AOSIS
• Subjects: Africa; Botswana; Care and treatment; Culture; Family medicine; Humans; Opinion Paper; Patient centeredness, appropriate to context, Eurocentric model, Afrocentric model, construal of self, traditional health practitioners; Patient-Centered Care - methods; Patients; Primary Health Care - methods; Quality management; Botswana; Africa; South Africa

Patient-centredness (PC) is a key principle in Family Medicine. The term 'patient-centredness' was coined by Balint to emphasise that patients should be treated as unique individuals and was used initially to describe how physicians should interact and communicate with patients. The Instit...