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Under the Patient's Charter, The National Health Service has an obligation to become more responsive to the needs of patients. These needs have been shown by research to include the provision of good quality information, both oral and written, about patients' drugs. The provision of such information has been shown to increase compliance, patient satisfaction and confidence of patients in coping with their illness, drugs and any side‐effects. The information in this article was gathered as a preliminary to further research. It combines a review of the literature with information from a series of informal interviews with members of the local healthcare team. The article looks at where patients get drug information from, then moves on to examine the value of providing such information. Issues arising in the provision of drug information are considered and recommendations are provided which indicate long term concerns and approaches for further work.

To assess patients' attitude towards information leaflets, their understanding of the given information, and the time factor involved in an out‐patient clinic set‐up.

A total of 50 patients who received depot preparation of Methyl Prednisolone as local injections in an out‐patient hand‐clinic were given 15 minutes to read the patient information leaflet and were simultaneously asked to answer a questionnaire.

Patients want to be informed and are willing to spend more time and effort on information leaflets. Their ability to grasp and retain the relevant information is highly variable. Excess of information, poor presentation/format, lack of time, irrelevant data are factors which seem to adversely affect the effectiveness of information leaflets.

This study gives recommendations to those providing patient care. Emphasises the need for a careful review of all written information with respect to patients' better understanding of the treatment they will receive for the condition being treated.

Total quality management (TQM) is one of many new quality initiatives being introduced in the NHS to improve the quality of information and overall service quality. Out‐patient departments were targeted by the Department of Health as an area in which to start quality improvements, particularly regarding the provision of information to patients. Describes a study undertaken in a rheumatology out‐patients clinic which examined the flow of information, where information can be improved and how TQM can help improvement. Based on the hypothesis that patients′ and staff′s perceptions of information quality differ to the extent that some patients are not satisfied with information quality and this is inconsistent with a TQM approach. The quality of information was measured in three areas: sufficiency, understanding, and selectivity. A structured questionnaire was used and 80 patients and 11 staff were interviewed. Discusses differences in perceptions of information. Further research is needed to make a detailed study of information flow and to identify specific areas of information provision for improvement.

The idea that patients should be informed about the benefits and risks of treatment options and involved in decisions about their care is, to many people, appealing and sensible. However, it has important implications. This paper briefly considers two motivations for involving patients in clinical decisions and explores some of the issues raised by these. It then makes some practical suggestions for those wanting to provide information to support patient involvement. The paper emphasizes that although the provision of more good‐quality information to patients is widely accepted to be a priority, it is not always a straightforward matter and warrants critical consideration. Substantial resources may be needed if it is to be done well.

This article is a summary of a report which looks at the potential of using television sets at hospital bedsides to provide patients with access to health information. The report was jointly commissioned by The Department of Health (DoH) and National Health Service (NHS) Direct Online, and focused on what could be done using existing (or planned) Patient Power infrastructure. The latest generation of systems from all three of the main suppliers of bedside television service could provide access to health information in a variety of ways. A group meeting was held with key internal DoH and NHS stakeholders. Interviews were held with the main suppliers of bedside television services. Opinions were also taken from several academics specialising in Health Informatics, from a range of commercial health information providers and a wide range of NHS Trust representatives. Two areas where further research would be of use are looking at the opportunities around digital radio as a way of providing patients with health information, and looking at any particular issues that exist around communication with patients while they are in hospital.

Online health question-and-answer (Q&A) forums have developed a new business model whereby listeners (peer patients) can pay to read health information derived from consultations between askers (focal patients) and answerers (physicians). However, research exploring the mechanism behind peer patients' purchase decisions and the specific nature of the information driving these decisions has remained limited. This study aims to develop a theoretical model for understanding how peer patients make such decisions based on limited information, i.e. the first question displayed in each focal patient-physician interaction record, considering argument quality (interrogative form and information details) and source credibility (patient experience of focal patients), including the contingent role of urgency.

The model was tested by text mining 1,960 consultation records from a popular Chinese online health Q&A forum on the Yilu App. These records involved interactions between focal patients and physicians and were purchased by 447,718 peer patients seeking health-related information until this research.

Patient experience embedded in focal patients' questions plays a significant role in inducing peer patients to purchase previous consultation records featuring exchanges between focal patients and physicians; in particular, increasingly detailed information is associated with a reduced probability of making a purchase. When focal patients demonstrate a high level of urgency, the effect of information details is weakened, while the interrogative form is strengthened.

The originality of this study lies in its exploration of the monetization mechanism forming the trilateral relationship between askers (focal patients), answerers (physicians) and listeners (peer patients) in the business model “paying to view others' answers” in the online health Q&A forum and the moderating role of urgency in explaining the mechanism of how first questions influence peer patients' purchasing behavior.

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the determinants of patients' service choices between telephone consultation and text consultation in online health communities (OHCs).

This study utilized an empirical model based on the elaboration likelihood model and examined the effect of information, regarding service quality (the central route) and service price (the peripheral route), using online health consultation data from one of the largest OHCs in China.

The logistic regression results indicated that both physician- and patient-generated information can influence the patients' service choices; service price signals will lead patients to cheaper options. However, individual motivations, disease risk and consulting experience change a patients' information processing regarding central and peripheral cues.

Previous researchers have investigated the mechanism of patient behavior in OHCs; however, the researchers have not focused on the patients' choices regarding the multiple health services provided in OHCs. The findings of this study have theoretical and practical implications for future researchers, OHC designers and physicians.

A prospective audit of 76 patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery was performed. The aim of this audit was to assess how effectively patients are consented at a busy teaching hospital, and to suggest improvements to the process. Evaluates the level of information attained by patients after giving consent and their overall satisfaction with the process by use of a questionnaire. Results demonstrated that patients were often given incomplete information about their management. Despite this, patients themselves felt that the level of information given to them was appropriate, and allowed them to make an informed decision. Suggests the use of written information sheets and Internet Web sites to supplement the provision of information to patients. These modalities will allow patients to access as much information as they desire, while avoiding any potential anxiety due to provision of excess information.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the views of doctors, nursing staff and hospitalized patients on the level of information they provide and receive respectively in public hospitals, focusing on the factors that affect their communication.

The study used a cross-sectional survey with a sample of 426 participants from two general hospitals in Greece–Pella and KAT Attica. Data were collected through a questionnaire in March–May 2020 and was analyzed with mean comparisons and correlations.

The results showed discrepancy in the satisfaction rate, with 67.3% satisfied patients from doctors' communication vs. 83.7% satisfied doctors. Improvements in hospital staff – patient communication are required especially on alternative therapies' discussion and time spent on communication. All respondents agreed that staff shortage is a deterrent factor for effective communication. Seamless for all respondents' groups, the factors that affect the communication satisfaction level are the duration of communication, time allowed for expressing questions and interest in patients' personal situation.

Strengthening the communication skills of medical staff and providing clear guidelines on when and how to inform patients are essential.

This study contributes to the growing body of research on doctor–patient communication. Its originality lies on the fact that communication satisfaction level was examined simultaneously for doctors, nurses and patients. The study provides additional evidence supporting the link among satisfaction and duration of communication and personalized relationship. The study's findings are important in the training of medical staff and the management of patients' expectations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the threats to patient privacy inherent in the movement to reduce health care costs by digitizing health care information.

The paper applies relevant organizational theories to the health care information privacy arena, and predicts different privacy outcomes depending on the model organizations adopt to manage their information processing practices.

Public policy makers who value preservation of patient health care information privacy, can predict the relative safety of information based on the organizational model used by companies which handle that data. Propositions advanced by these theories to explain business processes are reviewed to the extent they help explore the relationships between the users and managers of the digitized health records, and the privacy of the patients' health‐records. The paper offers a series of implications for marketers based on the framework.

The findings are most applicable to health care systems that do not already sacrifice privacy in the name of economy.

The findings can be used to insure the security of health care information.

The paper addresses a recent trend motivated by the need to make health care accessible to more people. Rising health care costs have forced lawmakers and marketers to seek more efficient processes to reduce costs. One unintended consequence is that economies sacrifice privacy.