background: as an early step in the development of a decision aid for idiopathic trigger finger (tf) we were interested in the level of decisional conflict experienced by patients and hand surgeons. this study tested the null hypothesis that there is no difference in decisional conflict between patients with one or more idiopathic trigger fingers and hand surgeons. secondary analyses address th...

Objective: Cultural portrayals of physicians suggest an unclear and even contradictory role for humility in the physician-patient relationship. Despite the social importance of humility, however, little empirical research has linked humility in physicians with patient outcomes or the characteristics of the doctor-patient visit. The present study investigated the relationship between physician h...

This essay addresses the ethical implications of the physician-patient relationship from the Confucian perspective, which holds that the physician must regard the patient as a family member to treat the patient properly. It is well known that there are two primary approaches to moral authority in contemporary Western medical ethics. One is internal, and assumes that the good inherent to medicin...

INTEREST IN THE RELATIONSHIP BEtween physicians and patients is as old as the practice of medicine. Over the past 20 years, scholarly interest has increased as educators and practicing professionals have realized that a therapeutic relationship, along with integration of knowledge and skills, content of care, information management, teamwork, and health systems is an integral part of healing an...