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Updated: Apr 30, 2026

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
[Is it quality of life that patients really want? Assessment from a general practitioner's perspective]
Stefan Wilm1, Verena Leve1, Sara Santos1
1Institut für Allgemeinmedizin (ifam), Fakultät für Medizin, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf.
Abstract:
The multidimensional, complex construct of 'quality of life' as a patient-reported outcome is used in medicine as a measurable indicator of health and illness. But do we know what we do when we measure 'quality of life'? Can we grasp how the patient with his individual concept of disease really feels when we use instruments that were designed, administered and analysed by professionals? Do we know the meaning of what we have measured? Is it not shortsighted to focus on health-related quality of life? And is it really quality of life that patients actually want? From a general practitioner's perspective, these questions will be asked of three patients.
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