Psychosocial Factors Affecting the Patient and Health Care Professional

Every person is diverse in many ways. It is through their thoughts, encounters, life experiences that make people who they are today. Health care professionals are impacted everyday with their psychosocial factors that they are aware of and unaware of.” Some may believe that considering psychosocial factors is impractical because of time constraints (Falvo, Pg 82). There are health care professionals that ignore or try avoiding patient’s psychosocial factors because of feelings of being overwhelmed or incompetent because they don’t know how to handle the issue at hand. An example would be a doctor prescribing medication to a patient who does not believe in medicine. When the patient comes back and the doctor sees the patient is being non-compliant, the doctor gets frustrated and impatient. But if the doctor took the time to gather more information he would know the patients thought process about medication and non-compliance would not occurred. When health care professionals do not take account for patient’s psychosocial factors their ability to follow treatment plan or recommendations is less likely to occur. According to Falvo (2011), “Without a firm understanding of the other factors that have an impact on the patient’s receptiveness to information or his or her ability to follow recommendations, the health professional’s efforts in patient teaching can end in frustration for both the patient and the health professional”(Pg 82). In order to be successful and improve health, the health care professional needs to focus on patient- centered care and incorporate all aspects of the patient. “Health professionals cannot assume that their particular way of viewing an illness, issues of prevention, or the importance of carrying out treatment recommendations are shared by all patients”(Pg83).
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