Understanding The Consultation

The general practice consultation is one of the most challenging encounters in medicine. It demnds of the doctor not only a high degree of technical knowledge and skill, but also considerable interpersonal competence and self-knowledge. The aims of this text is to help the reader gain a deeper understanding of the encounter between patient and doctor by examining it from a number of different points of view, including: information sharing; theories of the patient-doctor relationship; and the social context of illness.