Patient Practitioner Interaction: An Experiential Manual for Developing the Art of Health Care, ed 4.

Patient Practitioner Interaction: An Experiential Manual for Developing the Art of Health Care, ed 4 Davis CM. Thorofare, NJ 08086, Slack Inc, 2006, paperback, 304 pp, illus, ISBN: 1-55642-720-4, $42.95.

The first edition of this book was published in 1988 as an attempt to fill a void in many health care curricula: the teaching of professional roles beyond hands-on care. Professionalism is now a standard element in health care curricula, but anyone who has tried to teach professionalism knows that it is easier said than done. Hence, there is a continuing need for this book. This fourth edition has expanded and evolved, but remains true to its original goal--guiding students toward developing the "art of health care." This includes learning about ethics, values, and communication and acknowledging the emotional needs of patients.

This book is clearly geared to beginning students with limited experience in patient interaction. Written in a very basic manner, the author uses a liberal amount of tables and lists, easy-to-follow chapter headings, and lots of white space. The text is presented in a workbook-style format, creating a user-friendly layout. Each chapter opens with learning objectives and ends with exercises that could be done individually or in small groups.

There are 2 major sections in the book. Section I (chapters 1-4) focuses on awareness of self. Section II (chapters 5-15) focuses on interacting with others. Chapters 1 through 7 are fairly generic, covering topics such as defining values, resolving moral dilemmas, effective listening, and conflict resolution. The conversational tone makes the book easy to read, but at times the text feels limited and dated. For example, chapter 2, "Family History," cites 8 references dating from 1954 to 1990. In these days of evidence-based practice, it is likely that a student will question how we know that these exercises will work and why more recent references are not provided.

Some of the strongest chapters are found in the second section of the book. Several of these chapters were written by contributing authors--Helen Masin (chapter 9: "Communicating With Cultural Sensitivity"), Kathleen Curtis (chapter 11: "Health Behavior and Effective Patient Education"), and Sherrill Hayes (chapter 13: "Sexuality and Disability: Effective Communication"). These chapters move the book away from general interpersonal interaction and into more specific scenarios that students may encounter in clinical affiliations and throughout their careers. These chapters are supported by more substantial reference lists and challenging exercises.

The book's greatest strength, a straight-forward, easy-to-understand workbook style, may also be its greatest weakness. In my opinion, some of the material in the earlier chapters seemed a bit basic for a DPT program and may be similar to what is taught in undergraduate psychology courses. Nevertheless, a review of the basic concepts could be beneficial when presented within a clinical framework. Pulling in clinical scenarios to discuss the inherent ethics, values, and communication issues is an option that could enhance the relevance of the introductory material to DPT students.

In conclusion, this book has served physical therapist students and educators well since the first edition appeared 15 years ago. The fourth edition includes some new material to reflect changes in health care, such as managed care and cultural diversity. The busy instructor may find the individual and group exercises a welcome resource. Others may find that some of the material lacks depth, and they will want to supplement it with current research and more complex clinical scenarios. This book is written by physical therapists, so the material provided would fit comfortably in physical therapist and physical therapist assistant curricula, but it certainly could be adapted to other health care providers as well.

[DOI: 10.2522/ptj.2006.86.12.1713.1]

Ann M York, PT, PhD

Des Moines University 

Des Moines, Iowa 

York is currently with the Postprofessional DPT program and also teaches professional issues and development modules for the DPT program.