Study finds physician-patient communication a hurdle
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
September 8, 2010
A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine may give unique insight into physician-patient communication, reports the Boston Globe.
The study was conducted to see whether patients clearly understood that "percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) reduces only chronic stable angina and not myocardial infarction (MI) or associated mortality," or in other words, that a stent near the heart would not prevent future heart attacks. It found that heart patients at Springfield’s Baystate Medical Center in Massachusetts often believed the stent would prevent future heart attacks, despite their doctor's explaining otherwise.
Marc J. Schweiger, MD, a Baystate cardiologist and senior author of the study, believes the problem is not unique to PCI but is a common problem in communication between physicians and patients when it comes to many surgeries.
