Patient certification through mutual problem lists.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether retired military personnel and spouses are cognizant of the patient's complete list of medical problems.


METHODS
Receiving help from their spouses or other personal care givers, 12 patients listed their health problems from memory plus from a page-by-page review of their permanent medical records. The personal physician produced his own lists and combined them with the patient-generated lists. After mutual review, these combined lists were accepted as the mutual problem lists. Other professionals in the clinic also audited the same patients' charts.


RESULTS
Twelve patients identified an average of 4.58 problems, the physician identified an average of 7.75 problems, and the other professionals identified an average of 6.54 problems.


CONCLUSIONS
This lack of agreement has implications for patient education and certification as full collaborators in primary care.
Smith
S L
SL
Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, Department of Primary Care and Community Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
Hamm
R M
RM
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards*; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000592:standards; D009017:Morbidity; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010358:Patient Participation; D012179:Retirement / Q000523:psychology*; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*