Understanding respect: learning from patients.
BACKGROUND
The importance of respecting patients and participants in clinical research is widely recognised. However, what it means to respect persons beyond recognising them as autonomous is unclear, and little is known about what patients find to be respectful.


OBJECTIVE
To understand patients' conceptions of respect and what it means to be respected by medical providers.


METHODS
Qualitative study from an academic cardiology clinic, using semistructured interviews with 18 survivors of sudden cardiac death.


RESULTS
Patients believed that respecting persons incorporates the following major elements: empathy, care, autonomy, provision of information, recognition of individuality, dignity and attention to needs.


CONCLUSIONS
Making patients feel respected, or valued as a person, is a multi-faceted task that involves more than recognising autonomy. While patients' views of respect do not determine what respect means, these patients expressed important intuitions that may be of substantial conceptual relevance.
Dickert
N W
NW
Emory University School of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. njr@emory.edu
Kass
N E
NE
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D028701:Patient Rights / Q000941:ethics*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D055815:Young Adult