Out-Patient Care—The Influence of Interrelated Needs

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Abstract
Patient, staff, and organizational needs were demonstrated to be interrelated in a variegated and complex manner. It is both misleading and potentially dangerous, in terms of understanding the over-all set-up of the clinic, to view any one category of needs out of context. Our study showed that when the interrelationships between the categories of need are congruent, they are generally constructive; conversely, when they are incongruent, they are destructive. Emphasis should be devoted to identifying the potential problem areas, and then making every effort to achieve suitable compromises ("the gray area") which will permit the greatest possible fulfillment of the primary needs and expectations which are operative in the situation. In other words, the task is to maximize the congruences and to minimize the incongruencies as much as possible. It is the authors'' contention that greater attention to group experiences, especially those which provide opportunity for small group discussion, as well as other methods of "feedback," would be productive. The importance of role interactions must be recognized not only in regard to professional interactions, but also in the area of patient-staff interactions as well. Basic needs in the three categories (patient, staff, and organization) have been proposed, and should be amenable to further research. The identification of individual needs is crucial.

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