At the Doctor’s: Coaching for Communication and Patient Satisfaction

By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Patients often have a lot of questions when they are visiting the doctor, then realize later that somehow many were either not asked or not really answered.
But with coaching by the doctor’s office, a new study reports, some of the communication problems can be eased.
Writing in The Cochrane Library, researchers said that to be effective, the preparation should be done the day of the appointment, not in the days or weeks ahead. The coaching is often done either in person or by giving guides like checklists to the patients to help them figure out what to ask and to remember to ask it.
The researchers, led by Paul Kinnersley of Cardiff University in Wales, reviewed more than 30 studies from 6 countries and found that patients who were given the coaching expressed more satisfaction with their care. Perhaps not coincidentally, their visits tended to be longer.
There are many reasons patients don’t get enough information. They can be nervous, unsure how to phrase a question or simply forget to ask it.
But often, the study said, the fault may lie with the doctor. “Clinicians may underestimate or undervalue the information needs of patients,” the researchers wrote. “They may also lack the skills to give information effectively.”
While one solution may be to better train doctors, the study said, doing so might take a lot of resources and, in the end, not make a big difference. The researchers said it might simply be more effective to train patients.
The researchers looked at studies involving more than 8,000 patients. While coaching patients and giving them written materials were found to have the same benefit, patients responded more favorably to coaching.