Page 161 - Demo

General discussion1597with MID in general practice. Person-centred care is defined as care that is tailored to someone’s personal needs, desires, and preferences, with the aim of the person leading a meaningful life. This includes: a two-way interaction between the practitioner and the patient where information is conveyed and shared, a respectful and empathetic practitioner attitude with attention on the patient’s individual needs and perspective on care, and the patient’s active involvement in the care and decision-making process. 1, 2 Person-centred care in vulnerable patient groups has positive effects on (MH) healthcare outcomes, patient involvement, and patient and practitioner satisfaction, and results in fewer consultations, referrals, and hospital admissions. 3 Effective communication is one of the most important identified underlying mechanisms for effective person-centred care in vulnerable patients. This means that the practitioner uses easy-tounderstand words, is empathetic, listens attentively, and checks whether the patient understands everything. 3 For patients with MID, it is therefore important for practitioners to recognize MID so that they can adapt the communication to the patient’s abilities. Patients with both MID and MH problems often face extra communication difficulties arising from the MH problems, in addition to their MID. They emphasize that the use of simple or supportive communication is helpful for effective information transfer and implementing their practitioner’s advices in their daily lives (Chapter 5).4The practitioner struggles with MID recognitionThe majority of practitioners consider it both important and their responsibility to identify MID in patients. However, they find recognition of MID highly challenging (Chapter 6). 5 We also observed this in our quantitative study, where we found that in primary care the presence of MID is recorded in only 20% of patients (Chapter 3). The most commonly mentioned barriers include insufficient education on the topic during their GP training and a lack of information about MID in their postgraduate education. Only few GPs are familiar with screening tools or guidelines related to the identification of an MID, and even fewer apply these (Chapter 6).6 Another notable aspect is that the majority of participating GPs feel reluctant to address the presumption of an MID. They are concerned about harming the doctor–patient relationship or stigmatizing patients (Chapter 6). 6 It Katrien Pouls sHL.indd 159 24-06-2024 16:26