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The aim of this study was to describe nurses' and other health care professionals' views about their patient education skills and how to develop them.

The data for the study were collected from the participants of the online education course on patient education. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

The results show that, in the experience of health care professionals, it is important to make a shift from the professional‐led education and counselling towards an education relationship in which the professional and the patient are equals and represent different kinds of expertise and to develop patient education towards patient‐centredness supporting the patients' self‐management.

The sample used in the research is small.

The participants in this study experienced that, as patient educators, it is necessary for them to acknowledge their own abilities, beliefs and values in order to be able to develop their patient education skills. This is noteworthy because appreciating and acknowledging the importance of reflection is one prerequisite for the paradigm shift from the traditional patient education model towards patient‐centred education. Consequently, it is important to investigate further the best ways of facilitating the development of health care professionals' skills with regard to patient‐centred education.

The study showed that, through education and training, health care professionals can recognize the need to develop their patient education towards patient‐centredness.

The purpose of this study was to examine the overall quality of care being delivered, and to determine if gender, race, age, and education level affected the quality of care being delivered in inpatient mental health programmes. To accomplish this objective, the study utilised patient survey data collected in 2006. Measures were selected from the survey that best matched the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) six dimensions of quality framework: safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable and patient‐centred. This study may be a useful tool to guide the assessment of clinical programmes and the role of leadership in this process.

Patient-centred care and patient involvement are increasingly central concepts in health policy in the UK and elsewhere. However, there is little consensus regarding their definition or how to achieve “patient-centred” care in everyday practice or how to involve patients in service redesign initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to explore these issues from the perspective of key stakeholders within National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in the UK.

Semi-structured interviews, covering a range of topics related to service redesign, were conducted with 77 key stakeholders across three NHS Trusts in the West Midlands. In total, 20 of these stakeholders were re-interviewed 18 months later. Data were managed and analysed using the Framework Method.

While patient-centred care and patient involvement were regularly cited as important to the stakeholders, a gap persisted between values and reported practice. This gap is explained through close examination of the ways in which the concepts were used by stakeholders, and identifying the way in which they were adapted to fit other organisational priorities. The value placed on positive subjective experience changed to concerns about objective measurement of the patients as they move through the system.

Increased awareness and reflection on the conceptual tensions between objective processes and subjective experiences could highlight reasons why patient-centred values fail to translate into improved practice.

The paper describes and explains a previously unarticulated tension in health organisations between values and practice in patient centred care and patient involvement in service redesign.

The prupose of this paper is to present the development of the Verona Patient‐Centred Communication Evaluation (VR‐COPE) scale, together with its psychometric properties. The nine item rating scale assesses the content and relational aspects of patient‐centred communication during medical consultations on the basis of a multidimensional evaluation as suggested by the more recent literature in the field. Each item is defined by operational definitions.

A sample of 246 transcribed primary care consultations was rated with the VR‐COPE. Explorative factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficients and internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha were calculated. Convergent validity with the Verona Medical Interview Classification System (VR‐MICS) was also tested. A sub sample of 32 consultations was used to assess inter‐rater reliability.

Interrater reliability and internal consistency were good (overall Cronbach alpha=0.75). Four factors (explaining 74 per cent of the variance) were extracted by exploratory factor analysis. Six items of the VR‐COPE correlated significantly with specific communication skills evidenced by the VR‐MICS and pertained to the physician's ability to explore medical or psychosocial issues. The VR‐COPE items on interview structure and shared decision, more related to process than to specific skills, had no equivalent in the VR‐MICS.

The new rating scale responds to the need in communication research for a multidimensional scale that combines the evaluation of specific skills and process aspects.

This paper aims to explore how healthcare organizations in Denmark transform modern ideas of patient‐centred preventive care into organizational practice. Specific attention is given to the influence of existing organizational practices.

A qualitative multiple case study design is used to explore “motivational interviewing”, a health behaviour concept that was introduced in preventive consultations in ten Danish clinics. From an institutional perspective, the concept may be understood as an “organizational recipe” that translates into organizational activities. Data are generated by observations, interviews and document reviews. Theory and data provide the framework for an analytical phase model.

The paper reveals how abstract ideas on preventive care translate into specific activities in organizations following pre‐existing, general rules of medical practice. Disparities between clinics are related to distinctive local practices, such as clinics' conditions and preventive treatment practices that form local sets of editing rules. Differences in clinic performances result in variations in achieving the ideal of patient‐centred, preventive care prescribed by motivational interviewing.

It is acknowledged in medical practice that there are different conceptions of the ideal of preventive care. The paper points to the value of promoting transparency in clinical practice and of paying attention to the mismatch between external expectations and organizational capabilities.

The paper adds to the understanding of organizational dynamics at the micro‐level.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the future of healthcare and quality.

The paper describes six future healthcare systems based on four archetypes.

Instead of dealing with process oriented practice, management participation, financial incentives and capacity management, the emphasis should be on communication, education, shared decisions and quality of life.

The paper makes it clear that quality improvement efforts should be centred on the needs and wishes of patients, recognising patients' expertise, values and preferences.

This paper assesses the patients' healthcare information needs and expectations when they attend a rheumatology outpatient clinic. It proposes that obtaining the patients' perspectives about the services they use is an essential service-development tool. The aim of this paper is to expand the current domains used to evaluate these perspectives.

This paper is an exploratory study, looking at quality assessment and improvement based on Donabedian's quality model in a rheumatology outpatient setting. A structured interview schedule addressing care pathways was used and 70 consecutive patients were recruited.

The article provides insights about how relevant change can be brought about when service development is contemplated. It suggests that patients are important stakeholders in the ongoing service development process.

Because rheumatological conditions tend to be chronic and require long-term follow-up, the results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test propositions in different clinical settings.

The article highlights healthcare delivery areas that are not meeting patient expectations. Some recommendations (such as informing waiting patients regularly about any delays) require minimal additional resources for successful implementation. Service providers need to obtain the patients' healthcare perspectives to ensure that services are built around their needs.

This article fulfils an identified need to study how patients perceive service quality.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how patient assessment of primary care physician (PCP) communication is related to patient satisfaction with the PCP, patient perception of PCP professional competence, patient assessment of the relationship with the doctor and patient demographic characteristics using a segmentation approach.

The authors surveyed 514 adult patients waiting for appointments with their PCPs in two US primary care clinics. A latent class analysis was used to identify mutually exclusive unobserved homogeneous classes of patients.

The authors identified three distinct classes/groups with regard to patient assessment of physician communication and the physician-patient relationship. The largest group (53 percent of the sample) assessed their PCP communication and other doctor-patient relationship aspects as excellent. However, 37 percent provided mostly negative assessments, expressed high general dissatisfaction with the physician and disagreed with the statement that their PCP was well qualified to manage their health problems. These patients were on average more educated and affluent and the group included more males. About 10 percent of patients expressed generally lower satisfaction with the PCP, though their dissatisfaction was not as extreme as in the highly dissatisfied group.

Further studies are needed to help physicians develop skills to communicate with different patients.

Patient segmentation can be an important tool for healthcare quality improvement particularly for emerging approaches to primary care such as patient-centered care.