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Clear Lines of Communication Aid Patient Care  (Article 1)

One of the cornerstones in your relationship with patients should be open, clear communication that helps them make the most informed health care decisions possible.
 

TRICARE’s 2006 Health Care Survey of DoD Beneficiaries found that doctors’ communication was a key component of patient satisfaction. So key, in fact, that communication was ranked ahead of access to care, speed of service, courtesy of staff and
customer service.
 

Most patients want more information and guidance, and are more satisfied with their care when they receive such counsel from their doctors. However, sometimes the information doctors give fails to answer a patient’s question or need to know, according
to Geoffrey H. Gordon, M.D., FACP, and F. Daniel Duffy, M.D., FACP.*
 
In “Educating and Enlisting Patients” (Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management, Vol. 5, No. 4), Gordon and Duffy suggest that you organize the information you give patients around the eight questions almost all patients have, no matter how medically
sophisticated they are.
 
Nearly every patient has these three questions about their illness:
  1. What has happened to me?
    (diagnosis)
  2. Why has it happened to me?
    (etiology)
  3. What is going to happen to me?
    (prognosis)

In addition, most patients have the following five questions about their medical care:
 
  1. What are you doing to me?
  2. Why are you doing that (and not something else)?
  3. Will it hurt or harm me?
    How much? For how long?
  4. When will you know the results?
  5. When will I know the results?
     
Try to anticipate your patient’s concerns. When faced with an illness, an individual often has fears and worries on many different levels. For instance, someone could be anxious about the physical pain associated with an illness, but at the same time
be concerned about the economic (How much does it cost?) or social (Will anyone find out that I’m being tested for HIV?) ramifications.
 
At the end of the visit, take time to assess the patient’s grasp of what’s been discussed. Gordon and Duffy recommend asking your patients what they plan to tell their loved ones about “what the doctor said.” Having them restate the message in their own
words will reveal just how well they understand the information, and will give you an opportunity to clarify, if necessary.
 
* Geoffrey H. Gordon, M.D., FACP,
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine,
Yale University School of Medicine; and
F. Daniel Duffy, M.D., FACP, Senior Vice
President, American Board of Internal
Medicine, Philadelphia, PA

  
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Created: January 4, 2008