We need to help patients to help themselves

Performing the same task day after day, week after week is not only predictably routine, there is also a danger that we may avoid doing it altogether. Perhaps worse, fear of losing face may result in us telling people we have been performing the task when, in fact, we haven’t.
Imagine you’re a therapist treating a patient, let’s call her Susan, and expecting
her to self-manage her lymphoedema. However, at follow-up visits you continue
to see poor outcomes, despite assurances from her that she is carrying out the
treatment at home. You might mistakenly change Susan’s treatment in the belief
that what you have recommended is not working when, in actual fact, she has been
neglecting to do as you asked.