Table 2 PCC interventions for healthcare professionals in the primary care setting
Consultation videotaping | A workshop aiming to improve the coaching role of healthcare professionals during consultations by discussing video recordings of consultations with patients |
Evaluation of PCC on the job | A workshop aiming to help all healthcare professionals employed at an organization to improve their patient-centeredness. All daily care activities, from appointment making via internet/telephone to front desk work, provision of advice, and consultation structure, are evaluated |
Listening | A workshop aiming to help healthcare professionals understand patients’ questions and needs at the start of consultation by listening to patients first, instead of immediately asking questions |
Motivational interviewing | A training session in a directive, patient-centered approach to counseling that prepares patients for behavior changes. With motivational interviewing, attention is payed to building a strong patient–provider relationship and working toward patient autonomy and responsibility during the care process |
NIVEA | A workshop aiming to help healthcare professionals avoid judgement or interpretation of patients’ feelings without asking for clarification or further information |
Shared decision making | A workshop aiming to train healthcare professionals to use shared decision making during consultations to 1) prepare patients for the decision-making process (e.g., by informing them of consultation goals), 2) determine goals (e.g., jointly explore patients’ situations, share relevant medical information, and formulate goals), 3) agree on action points (e.g., by discussing all options), and 4) act and evaluate (e.g., by acting on agreements and reflecting on progression) |
Teach-back method | A workshop in which healthcare professionals learn to always check whether patients fully understand the information provided by asking patients to explain/repeat what they have just been told. This approach provides healthcare professionals with better insight on whether their information provision is adjusted adequately to patients’ skills, and whether patients remember the right elements |
Three good questions | An intervention based on a Dutch national campaign that aims to reassure patients that their wishes, anxieties, and needs matter during healthcare consultations. The ‘three good questions’ that patients can ask their healthcare professionals are 1) What are my options? 2) What are the pros and cons of those options? and 3) What does that mean in my situation? |
Topic list | An intervention exploring areas in which patients need support. The topic list is sent to patients before consultations; it contains depictions of pain and topics such as stress and lack of sleep. The list makes patients aware of the range of topics that they can discuss with their healthcare professionals |
Training in illiteracy recognition | A training session focusing on healthcare professionals’ recognition of illiterate patients and adjustment of their communication accordingly during consultations. The training also addresses such recognition by triage assistants and front desk staff when answering the telephone |