Patient-centered Medicine in Transition ― The Heart of the Matter

This book challenges functional models for more aesthetic and ethical models, where communication is grounded in values systems of cultures. Here, communication is treated as a distributed phenomenon involving networks of persons, activities and artifacts, and extends beyond doctor-patient relationships to working in and across teams around patients. The purpose of the book is to stimulate thinking about how patient care and safety may be improved through a focus upon the ‘non-technical’ work of doctors – interpersonal communication, teamwork and situation awareness in teams. The focus is then not on the personality of the doctor, but on the dynamics of relationships which form doctors’ multiple identities.

Alan Bleakley is Professor of Medical Education and Medical Humanities at Plymouth University Peninsula School of Medicine, UK, recently formed from the dissolution of Peninsula Medical School, where he was Deputy Director of the Institute of Clinical Education, internationally recognized as a leading medical education academic and research centre. He initially studied zoology and physiology and biochemistry, but switched to psychology, where his interests in brain science soon faded to be replaced by a passion for a more arts and humanities based psychology. He trained as a psychotherapist, obtaining a DPhil from Sussex University, and practiced for over 25 years, also running qualifying courses in psychotherapy for the University of Exeter, and education in communication for GPs and other health practitioners. He also taught psychodynamic therapies on a doctoral qualifying course for clinical psychologists also at the University of Exeter. Alan came into medical education some years ago, where he has become a leading international figure, especially in the field of theory.