The process of clinical consultation is crucial to patient outcomes and safety: 10 quality indicators

Gordon Caldwell

doi:10.7861/clinmed.2019-0263

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Box 1.

The 10 quality indicators for clinical consultation. Reproduced with permission from Launer J. Is there a crisis in clinical consultations? Postgrad Med J 2017;93:58.

The patient should be as prepared as possible.
The clinician should be as prepared as possible.
The clinician should know the person before making the person into a patient.
The consultation should feel unhurried for the patient and clinician.
The clinician should be able to give undivided attention to the patient.
The clinician should be able to hear themself think.
There should be ready supply of information into the consultation.
Confidentiality and dignity should be maintained.
The clinician should be regularly refreshed.
The patient should be encouraged to have an important other person participate in the consultation.