Elderly Patients’ Experiences of Meeting With the Doctor

Abstract

Previous research has provided contradictory findings on how important it is for elderly patients to actively participate in the meeting with their doctors. Using descriptive and exploratory interview study with 20 elderly patients discharged from medicine and geriatric hospital care in Sweden, the authors describe how elderly patients experience their meetings with their doctor in the hospital setting. The results indicate that the meetings between elderly patients and doctors are influenced by the nature and shape of the conversation, which are influenced by power and interaction. A good relationship between an elderly patient and his or her doctor leads to reduced apprehension and increased faith in the health care system. This study was inspired by the sociocultural perspective and highlights the importance of the health care sector becoming a learning organization in which doctors are trained to prevent misunderstandings in their meetings with elderly patients.