When it comes to patient-provider communication recent studies indicate that there are a lot of issues that are needed to be solved. For a patient to recover completely and the provider to emerge successful in ensuring complete recovery of the patient, it is quintessential that certain steps are taken to bridge this gap. So how can you improve the patient-provider communication?
Here are a few steps to follow as some studies have pointed out:
1. Providing Basic Information About Imaging Procedures
According to a survey, out of the patients undergoing an imaging test, around 78% stated that they do not have any basic information about the imaging procedures they were undergoing and wanted more information prior to undergoing the test. So, providing this basic information can be one step towards improving the communication.
2. Physicians Should Learn Strategies To Talk With Patients About Dying
It is very difficult for the physicians to tell straightaway to the patients about their real health condition and mostly when they are about to die. Helping the caretakers learn the strategies to talk with patients about dying makes a lot of difference with the ease they take a grip of their ailing and failing situation.
3. Focusing On Individual Patient Needs
According to a study report published in Annals of Family Medicine, healthcare providers can improve their communication with the patients by giving more focus to the individual needs of the patients when they are trying to diagnose the patient’s chronic illness.
4. Discussing On Bucket Lists
A Journal of Palliative Medicine study article says that physicians should encourage discussion on individual patient treatments so that they can plan end-of-life care properly by discussing with the patients about their bucket lists.