Both statistics and manner matter to patients

Experts say this finding confirms that the way a physician communicates is important, but it's unclear how a doctor should say what to which patient.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. July 9, 2007.

Studies are showing what many physicians long have suspected: What a doctor says matters, and how a doctor explains information counts.

"Communication between a doctor and a patient can literally save a life," said Norman Jensen, MD, MS, president-elect of the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare.

For instance, a study in the June 19 Annals of Internal Medicine found that patients were more likely to accept a daily preventive medication if a physician explained its benefit in terms of the number of illnesses prevented rather than in the length of the time delay before developing the illness.

Researchers at Nordlys Legesenter, a health center in Alta, Norway, randomized several thousand participants in a community health survey to receive a written description of a hypothetical medication that would prevent heart attack or hip fracture. The magnitude of the effect of the situations described were equivalent.

Those who received an explanation that the drug prevented disease in a few but not all of the people who took it were more likely to consent to treatment than those who received a description that said the medication delayed the onset of illness for a short period of time in all people who took it. The first group of patients also were more likely to agree to the treatment than those told that the drug delays the illness for a greater amount of time for a smaller group of people.

"This result suggests that the description of the anticipated outcome may influence the patient's willingness to accept a recommended intervention," the authors wrote.