Doctor-patient relationships in the era of the expert patient: an epistemological analysis

Taking the epistemological point of departure, a bibliographic research was conducted to evidence possibilities in doctor-expert patient relationships. Using specific works of Foucault and Buber, twenty articles were selected and analyzed dialectically based four analytical categories: “discontinuity of paradigms “; “the relationship”; “information”; and “it is necessary to navigate”. Focus was given to the role of the Internet in the management of health and the expert patient equipped with information found on the Internet. The clinical encounter can be understood from the following perspectives: “power relations”, “dialogical encounter”, and “evading the relationship”. However, the possibility of empowering the expert patient in the face of doctor authority remains questionable, especially when it comes to the redistribution of the power that emanates from knowledge.

Doctor-patient relationship; Expert patient; Internet; Power-knowledge; Dialogical relationship