Communicating Numeric Risk Information to Patients

Area of Science:

• Health communication
• Medical decision making
• Patient education

Background:

• Health outcomes research and clinical prediction models increasingly provide risk information.
• Effective communication of this risk information is encouraged but often challenging for clinicians.
• Clinicians encounter barriers such as verbal risk descriptions, low patient numeracy, and uncertain data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify challenges clinicians face when communicating health risk information.
• To present evidence-based best practices for effectively communicating risk information.
• To provide actionable strategies for clinicians to improve patient understanding.

Main Methods:

• Discussion of six common challenges in risk communication: verbal descriptions, patient numeracy, lack of numeric evidence, heuristics, uncertainty, and the curse of knowledge.
• Presentation of evidence-based best practices for effective risk communication.
• Inclusion of examples for clinicians on what to do and what not to do.

Main Results:

• Six key challenges hindering effective risk communication were identified.
• Best practices include using numbers alongside words, reducing cognitive load, clarifying numeric data meaning, acknowledging uncertainty, and employing teach-back methods.
• These strategies aim to enhance patient comprehension and engagement with risk information.

Conclusions:

• Clinicians can overcome communication challenges by adopting specific evidence-based strategies.
• Integrating these best practices into routine patient encounters can improve risk communication effectiveness.
• Enhanced communication empowers patients in making informed health decisions.