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. Met hods: 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 physi cian produced his own lists and combined them with the patient-generat ed lists. After mutual review, these combined lists were accepted as t he mutual problem lists, Other professionals in the clinic also audite d the same patients' charts. Results: Twelve patients identified an av erage of 4.58 problems, the physician identified an average of 7.75 pr oblems, and the other professionals identified an average of 6.54 prob lems. Conclusion: This lack of agreement has implications for patient education and certification as full collaborators in primary care.