Semantic Consulting

The ‘information deficit model‘ assumes that when a person’s beliefs and attitudes, and consequently their behaviours, are not ‘rational’ or in line with what we would like, this is because of a lack of understanding caused by a lack of information. Consequently, the information deficit model assumes that people are rational actors who will change their views based on the best information available to them. Quite apart from the fact that this is intuitively untrue, the information deficit model has…

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Let me be clear from the outset: I’m grateful for modern medicine.  Without it, myself and many members of my family would be dead. I’m also grateful for doctors.  The majority are very well motivated.  Many are excellent at what they do. With all that said, the more I have worked in healthcare (in Australia), the more concerned I have become about the lack of standardised practice, particularly in primary care.  The idea that medicine is practiced based on consistent,…

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Without being a “difficult patient”, I believe that I would have had to go 50+ hours without food whilst waiting for surgery, rather than the 30 hours I did wait.  Was it really a reasonable expectation that a patient fit around the inability of the hospital to forecast and plan surgical demand in that way?  Did anybody notice or care about the way in which my enforced fasting might impact my outcomes as a patient?   Almost two years ago,…

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As our health systems slowly (and quite often reluctantly) become aware of the importance of listening to patients, and the growing evidence base to support the fact that engaged patients get better health outcomes, I want to make the case for developing a partnership model between patients and doctors. Before I discuss why I think this is critical to a sustainable health system, I wanted to start by defining what an engaged patient is… An Engaged (or sometimes we use the…

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