Expert patients: learning from HIV.

Cooke, Molly · BMJ Qual Saf · 2011

expert_opinion · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

The outbreak of HIV in the early 1980s saw widespread activism among patients and community supporters. The author, a young physician in San Francisco at the time, describes how coming of age as a clinician in the midst of this activism affected her concept of the patient-physician relationship. The insistence of a particular patient, Robert, on specifying his treatment goals illustrates that even people with substantial cognitive challenges can participate in their own care in an egalitarian and active manner.

Medical subject headings