The Doctor-Patient Relationship Is Shifting: Here’s How

The doctor-patient relationship is changing, and both parties face a variety of challenges and opportunities as they navigate the transition.

One example of the clash between newer and existing approaches to healthcare comes from Lygeia Ricciardi, EdM, chief transformation officer at Carium and a recipient of a HIMSS Most Influential Women in Health IT Award. During the birth of her second child, Ricciardi was just moments away from giving birth in a car on the way to the hospital after laboring at home with the support of a doula.

“I hired the doula on my own, with the agreement of the obstetrician,” Ricciardi explained. “The obstetrician was to deliver the baby, and the doula was to help prepare and guide me through the end of pregnancy and labor in a way that met my personal goals and that supported me physically and emotionally in the context of birth. After the birth, my obstetrician was furious. He refused to collaborate with the doula ever again, blaming her for encouraging me and my husband to wait until the last minute to go to the hospital.”

Scenarios like this illustrate the major shift that is occurring in the doctor-patient relationship.