Finding common ground for the common good: Compromise in health care

As important as seeking the common good is, the common ground may be what is most often and most usefully sought (Gutmann & Thompson, Citation2013). Achieving the common good can be a lofty ideal that is not easily achieved, whereas people are more likely to effectively negotiate and compromise to achieve that which is closer to their own heart and day-to-day reality than “bigger picture” ideals. Finding common ground between parties—be they next-door neighbours, policymakers, or health care professionals and patients—has the potential to serve the interests and needs of those directly involved as individual, interpersonal and institutional values and behaviours are identified, tested and refined.