Living with skin diseases and topical treatment: patients' and providers' perspectives and priorities.
OBJECTIVE
Relationship-centred care stresses the importance of taking both patients' and health-care providers' values, expectations and preferences into account to improve health outcomes. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify patients' and providers' views and experiences of skin disease and topical treatment.


METHODS
Two types of focus group were used: (i) patients with chronic dermatological diseases and (ii) doctors, nurses and pharmacists working in dermatological care.


RESULTS
Three major categories emerged: (i) problems related to the disease, (ii) problems related to the treatment and (iii) strategies for improving everyday life for patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients and providers made several suggestions for improving everyday life. Future research needs to focus on how to achieve preference-matched shared decision-making, or concordance, between patients and health-care providers, taking different perspectives into account and how to evaluate the effect of the final, clinical, economical and humanistic outcomes of care and treatment. More seamless care and an increasingly shared understanding between patients and providers of their values, expectations and preferences for care and treatment may contribute to better health and better daily lives for patients.
Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Sweden. lena.ring@farmaci.uu.se
Lena
L
Ring
Asa
A
Kettis-Lindblad
Karin I
KI
Kjellgren
Ylva
Y
Kindell
Marianne
M
Maroti
Jörgen
J
Serup
D000287:Administration, Topical; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003880:Dermatology; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006766:Hospitals, County; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013548:Sweden