Table 3.

Ask permission

Physician and teenage girl are in an exam room

Physician: I’ve been looking at your chart and I noticed that your weight’s creeping up. What do you think about that?

Patient: Yeah. I guess I could do something about it.

Physician: Why don’t you try swimming? Many of my patients like that.

Patient: Yeah, ok.

Video cuts to patient alone

Patient (direct to camera): Swimming? I don’t even know how to swim! Get real!

Video cuts back to physician and teenage girl in the exam room

Physician: I’ve been looking at your growth chart here and I noticed that your weight’s been creeping up. What do you think about that?

Patient: Yeah. I guess I could do something about it.

Physician: What sorts of things might you try?

Patient: I don’t know. I haven’t thought much about it.

Physician: I have some ideas that have helped other patients. Would it be okay if I shared them with you?

Patient: Sure. Now that I think about it, I am on the computer a lot. Pretty much from when I get home ‘til I go to sleep. And I know that’s not so great.

Physician: You spend a lot of time in front of the computer.

Video cuts to physician alone

Physician (direct to camera): Asking permission to share ideas and get feedback about them really helped me to zero in on what might and might not work. And, it got her involved in problem solving. I want my patients to be active participants, not just people doing something because I told them to.