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Physician-patient communication critical to prompting medical care

Patient decisions about asking for medical help seem to be influenced by the listening skills of physicians, indicating that improving doctor’s communication skills can encourage patients to seek prompt medical care when they experience a cancer symptom, according to recent data.

“Prompt presentation with cancer symptoms could help to improve clinical outcomes in some, and patient experience in nearly all, patients... [but those] in the UK more often reported barriers to seeing their primary care doctor than in other countries with similar healthcare systems,” Katrina L. Whitaker, PhD, senior lecturer at the University of Surrey’s School of Health Sciences, and colleagues wrote in British Journal of General Practice. “Understanding barriers to consulting in primary care within the cancer context provides opportunities to improve earlier diagnosis of cancer.”

Researchers designed a UK-wide online survey of adults aged 50 years and older using quota sampling to reflect general population characteristics. They used a discrete choice experiment to examine a participant’s preferences for primary care physician consultation when presented with three cancer symptom scenarios: risk level not mentioned, designated as low risk or designated as high risk. A self-completed online questionnaire presented scenarios based on length of consultation, time to getting an appointment, convenience, choice of physician and physician listening skills.

Whitaker and colleagues obtained 9,616 observations from 601 participants. The results showed that across all risk conditions and demographic groups, patients preferred doctors with better listening skills, the ability to see a PCP of their choice and shorter waiting times. Patients responded that they were willing to wait an extra 3.5 weeks for an appointment with a PCP with good/very good listening skills versus very poor listening skills and an extra week for an appointment with a PCP of their choice versus any doctor. Length of consultation and convenience of appointment did not influence participant’s preferences.

“As well as promoting help seeking, a [general practitioner’s (GP’s)] listening skills are likely to aid the elicitation of symptoms, which is critical for arriving at an appropriate management plan,” Whitaker and colleagues wrote. “Future research should aim to understand more about communication within the GP-patient consultation in order to identify aspects of communication skills that can be optimized so that interventions can be developed to reduce barriers to consultation in patients with possible cancer.” – by Savannah Demko

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.