Encouraging patient question-asking: a clinical trial

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Patient-Physician Communication
• Medical Education

Background:

• Structured waiting-room interviews have improved patient participation in medical interactions.
• A need exists for inexpensive, widely disseminable interventions to enhance patient engagement.
• Printed educational materials offer a potential low-cost alternative for patient empowerment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a printed educational intervention in increasing patient question-asking during medical visits.
• To assess the impact of the intervention on patient satisfaction with medical care.
• To explore a scalable method for improving patient-physician communication.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving 67 family medicine patients randomly assigned to receive either a treatment booklet or a placebo booklet.
• The treatment booklet emphasized recognizing information needs and encouraging questions.
• Patient-physician interactions were audiotaped, and post-encounter questionnaires assessed satisfaction.

Main Results:

• The mean number of questions asked by patients in the treatment group (7.46) was not significantly higher than in the control group (5.63).
• The difference in question-asking between groups (1.83) did not reach statistical significance (P > 0.05).
• Patient question-asking did not correlate with reported satisfaction with care.

Conclusions:

• A simple printed intervention may not be sufficient to significantly increase patient question-asking during routine medical visits.
• Further research is needed to refine printed interventions for enhancing patient engagement and information seeking.
• Modifications to the intervention approach may be necessary for greater impact on patient-physician communication.