The patient-centred clinical method. 2. Definition and application

In this article, the patient-centred clinical method is described in operational terms. Definitions are given for the patient's expectations, feelings and fears. The physician behaviours described are: facilitations, acknowledgements, cut-offs and returns. Using the definitions, a method was devised for scoring video-taped interviews for the degree of 'patient-centredness'. The method proved to have good inter-observer reliability.