[Structure of communication between physicians and patients from the viewpoint of community health]

Understanding the structure and problems of communication between physicians and patients should be achieved before introducing a medical information network system for community health. To this end a questionnaire survey was performed on 2,362 patients who saw physicians in medical facilities in a certain district of Hiroshima city. As a result, it was revealed that 'explanations given by doctors' and 'explanatory ability of patients' were mutually closely related and formed a basis for other aspects of communication and patient behavior. Satisfaction with the explanation given by physicians declined with examination time of less than 5 minutes and examination in hospitals rather than in clinics. Explanatory ability of patients decreased as age of patients increased and showed a remarkable decrease in patients of more than 80 years old. This suggested the existence of risk that information necessary for safe examinations may not be transmitted to physicians. These results pointed out the importance of a supporting system of communication especially for the elderly patient.