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GMDS 2013: 58. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e. V. (GMDS)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie

01. - 05.09.2013, Lübeck

Increasing Patients’ Confidence in Communicating with a Doctor in a Foreign Language

Meeting Abstract

  • Andrea Koenemann - University of Bremen, DE
  • Simón Algorta Gómez - University of Bremen, DE
  • Jaime Maldonado - University of Bremen, DE
  • Carolin Reichherzer - University of Bremen, DE
  • Andreas Breiter - University of Bremen, DE

GMDS 2013. 58. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e.V. (GMDS). Lübeck, 01.-05.09.2013. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2013. DocAbstr.71

doi: 10.3205/13gmds015, urn:nbn:de:0183-13gmds0154

Veröffentlicht: 27. August 2013

© 2013 Koenemann et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open Access-Artikel und steht unter den Creative Commons Lizenzbedingungen (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.de). Er darf vervielfältigt, verbreitet und öffentlich zugänglich gemacht werden, vorausgesetzt dass Autor und Quelle genannt werden.


Gliederung

Text

Introduction: Improving a patient’s ability to communicate with their doctor has been shown to improve health outcomes. Receiving the needed communication training however is not always possible and can be particularly challenging for low-literacy or non-native speakers. The PrIMA (Priming Information for Medical Association) project is a simple interactive software interface presenting elements from the McGill Pain Questionnaire [1] to multiple users of a multi-touch table (MTT) in a simulated doctor's waiting room. Motivated by the idea of perceptual priming [2] and the positive effects of nature art in waiting rooms [3], the interface was developed as a flower garden representation with textual and visual icons for priming language related to pain assessment in English.

Concept and Methods: We hypothesized that users would become more confident that they would use important communication behaviors (i.e. feel more ready to share details about their pain and ask questions) after using the system when compared to those participants who did not. Both self-assessed language task difficulty and the self-assessed likelihood of using a specific language skill were assessed. For language task difficulty three simple statements were developed on the basis of task-based language learning theory. For assessing communication confidence an existing patient-doctor communication survey, the Perceived Involvement in Care Scale (PICS) [4] was altered to present a hypothetical situation of using English to communicate pain. These were then analyzed in two groups of university students and staff (total number of participants was 43) who were not primary English speakers. One group was tested with the MTT and the other without intervention, then questioned using a 5-point Likert scale for self-assessed difficulty or self-perceived likelihood of using a proposed communication skill. The mean values of the results from the digital media users were then compared to the results of the non-media users and compared for statistically significant differences.

Results and Discussion: This small study showed that it is possible to provide small but statistically significant gains in patient confidence regarding communication skills through the use of a 2-minute interactive application, which showed results similar to interventions tested in larger more detailed communication skills training studies [5]. Two of the hypothetical statements in particular showed a statistically significant increase in self-reported confidence for users of the MTT system: “I feel confident that I would ask my doctor to tell me more details about the treatment or procedure” showed a mean difference of +0.88 (t-test significance of 0); “I feel confident that I would ask my doctor for suggestions about what to do about my pain” showed a mean difference of +0.65 (t-test significance of 0.01). By utilizing the waiting room for patient education, a simple two to six minute interaction on a MTT system provided gains comparable to pre-consultation interventions such as question check lists and direct counseling. We feel that in future larger more targeted studies the positive effect of on-the-spot priming of patient communication via efficient digital media interactions can be expected.


References

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Melzack R. The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Major properties and scoring methods. PAIN [Internet]. 1975;1(3):277–299. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304395975900445 Externer Link
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Meyer DE, Schvaneveldt RW. Facilitation in recognizing pairs of words: evidence of a dependence between retrieval operations. Journal of experimental psychology. 1971;90(2):227.
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Nanda U, Chanaud C, Nelson M, Zhu X, Bajema R, Jansen BH. Impact of visual art on patient behavior in the emergency department waiting room. J Emerg Med. 2012 Jul;43(1):172-81. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22325555 Externer Link
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Lerman CE, Brody DS, Caputo GC, Smith DG, Lazaro CG, Wolfson HG. Patients’ perceived involvement in care scale: Journal of General Internal Medicine [Internet]. 1990;5(1):29–33. Available from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02602306 Externer Link
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Kinnersley P, Edwards A, Hood K, Ryan R, Prout H, Cadbury N, et al. Interventions before consultations to help patients address their information needs by encouraging question asking: systematic review. BMJ [Internet]. 2008;337(jul16 1):a485–a485. Available from: http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a485 Externer Link