Patient Family & Community Engagement

Focus on optimal health, not ideal health

Providers strive to help patients live the best, healthiest life they are capable of living. However, those efforts should involve a careful assessment of what the patient’s optimal health status is. It is deleterious to the therapeutic relationship to drive a patient towards a health status they are not able to attain. This article provides a brief commentary on the author’s experience as a patient to illustrate this point.