Increasingly, the Internet is playing an important role in consumer health and patient-provider communication. Seventy-three percent of American adults are now online, and 79% have searched for health information on the Internet. This study provides a baseline understanding of the extent to which health consumers are able to find tailored…

Learning to counsel patients in a teaching clinic or hospital occurs in the presence of the competing agendas of patient care and student education. We wondered about the challenges that these tensions create for clinical novices learning to deliver bad news to patients. In this preliminary study, we audio-taped and transcribed the interviews of…

This paper reviews the history of the recognition of borderline personality disorder as a clinical disorder, followed by a review of the contemporary practice of diagnosing borderline personality disorder in psychiatric settings. Many researchers have cautioned against the conflation of difficult patients with the diagnostic category of borderline…

This report from the Select Committee on Aging examines financial, medical, and social issues surrounding terminally ill patients with special emphasis on the elderly terminally ill. The first section discusses topics related to the medical treatment of the terminally ill. Two basic issues are important: the right to have medical treatment and the…

A study was conducted to determine the SMOG readability formula scores of currently available patient education materials. It was hypothesized that the reading level of the materials would be higher than 7.5, the reading level of the average American citizen; and that there would be a significant reduction in the measured document reading levels…

Identifies three major areas of concern in relationship between health care providers and dying patients: (1) nature of difficulties and stresses associated with terminal care; (2) education of providers for work; and (3) influence of organizational structure and institutionalized values on services for dying patients and families. Reviews…

As residency training programs attempt to integrate new educational programs, teachers may find residents less interested in learning about the psychosocial aspects of patient care than in the biomedical aspects. These attitudes may present barriers to implementing a curriculum designed to teach psychosocial skills. (MLW)

Faculty members at the University of Iowa noticed that freshmen dental students seemed to lack, or temporarily forget, some commonly accepted social skills in making proper introductions during the stress of their first patient contact. A videotape was developed to reinforce rules of etiquette for introductions in a professional setting. (MLW)

A review of American medical practice from 1876 to 1975 is presented in this Alan Gregg Memorial Lecture. Social and cultural influences are described, and it is concluded that the central and essential feature in medicine is the patient-physician relationship, in which physician actions should always be determined by what is beneficial to the…

A study to determine whether attitudes of medical students toward cancer patients are as negative as their attitudes toward the chronically ill found significant difference between attitudes toward cancer patients and patients in general. Support was also found for the existence of negative attitudes in the treatment of cancer patients.…

Patients (n=672) were screened and instructed about osteoporosis; 53 of their physicians attended lectures, a control group did not. A survey of 258 patients showed doctor-ordered screening tests increased regardless of lecture attendance. Increased patient-initiated discussions about osteoporosis suggest that patient education is effective.…

Describes a reading recognition test called Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) that is designed to identify low literacy levels in patients. Notes that information thus obtained is useful in directing patient-physician communications and in promoting patient understanding of commonly used oral and written medical information. (SR)

Examines physician-patient communication as it relates to expectations that patients and physicians hold for themselves and each other. Determines that dimensions of mutual role expectation were physician as humanistic practitioner, physician authority, patient in the sick role, and patient as consumer. Finds that patients had significantly higher…

Presents a model linking health promotion, health education, and patient education. The bases for distinctions between health education, patient education, and clinical health promotion are examined. The linking elements of the model are patient role, relationships adopted, and focus of the encounter; i.e., disease process vs. disease management.…

Physicians were surveyed about the appropriateness, content, and criteria for evaluation of decision aids for women with breast cancer. Both physicians' usual information practice and preference for outcomes from decision aids were measured. Conclusions relevant to developing decision aids to meet the needs of clinicians and patients are…