Asking patients to write lists: feasibility study

During consultations the patient's agenda is of paramount importance.1 2 To ignore it is to risk dysfunctional consultations and reduced compliance, with management being directed to issues not regarded as wholly relevant by the patient.3 For the patient to write a list of concerns seems logical. Yet doctors negatively stereotype patients who bring lists,4 and this presents a barrier to communication. In this pilot study I investigated the feasibility of all patients writing lists of concerns. I also investigated the effect of having a list on the number of problems raised and the time spent on each one. I conducted this study during consultations with my own patients in an urban group practice. On booking appointments my patients were advised to draw up a list of their concerns, to bring spectacles or an interpreter if …