Evidence-based care plans can fail when clinicians do not consider a patient’s relevant life circumstances -- such as an inability to afford a medication, a competing responsibility, or a loss of social support -- when planning their care. The capacity to systematically identify and incorporate patient life context into medical decision making has been described as the process of contextualizing care. Based on an analysis of over 500 unannounced standardized patient simulations and 7000 audio recorded clinical encounters over the course of more than a decade, Dr. Weiner’s team has characterized the skills required to contextualize care, measured their effect on patient outcomes and health care costs, tested various strategies for teaching the skills and measuring performance, and established a contextualizing care QI program at several VA medical centers. His presentation will provide an overview of this work.

Saul Weiner, MD
Saul Weiner, MD, is professor of medicine, pediatrics, and medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and deputy director of the research Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Health Care at the Veterans Health Administration. His research on contextualization of care has been supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs (Health Services Research & Development), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the National Board of Medical Examiners. Dr. Weiner is the University of Illinois at Chicago 2013 Distinguished Researcher of the Year in the Clinical Sciences. He has served as medical education dean, university vice provost, and currently as senior advisor to the provost. His book, Listening for What Matters: Avoiding Contextual Errors in Health Care, published by Oxford University Press, received the 2017 American Publishers Award for Professional & Scholarly Excellence in the Life Sciences from the American Association of Publishers. His latest book is On Becoming a Healer: The Journey from Patient Care to Caring About Your Patients, published by Johns Hopkins University Press (April 2020).