Communicating with patients : improving communication, satisfaction, and compliance / Philip Ley.

Includes index.

Originally published by Croom Helm, 1988.

Bibliography: p. 181-206.

1. Patients' satisfaction --Introduction--The measurement of satisfaction--The subtypes of patient satisfaction--Correlates of satisfaction with the consultation--Patients' satisfaction with communications--Some complicating factors--Summary--2. Patients' understanding of what they are told--Introduction--Patients' reluctance to ask questions--Patients' understanding of medical terminology--Patients' knowledge of common diseases--Understanding as assessed by the patients' own reports--Patients' understanding as assessed by expert judges--Quasi-behavioural tests of patients' understanding-- Summary--3. Memory for medical information--Introduction--The amount forgotten--1. Hospital patients-2. General practice patients-3. Studies of informed consent materials-4. Analogue studies-5. More limited information--Methodological problems--The relationship between amount presented and recall--Patients' characteristics and forgetting--Content and other factors and recall--Summary. --4. The problem of patients' non-compliance--Introduction--The measurement of compliance--The magnitude of the problem--Compliance by elderly patients--Compliance by psychiatric patients--Costs of non-compliance--Correlates of non-compliance--Summary--5. Relationships between understanding, memory, satisfaction and compliance--Introduction--Relationship between understanding, and memory, satisfaction and compliance--Relationship between memory and satisfaction and compliance--Relationships between satisfaction and compliance--Summary--6. Techniques for increasing patients' recall and understanding--Introduction--Improving recall of particular content--Increasing the amount recalled--Simplification--Explicit categorisation--Repetition--Use of specific advice statements--A mixture of these techniques--Increasing patients' satisfcation by increasing understanding and recall--Effects of improving memory by reminders--The use of 'mechanical' aids to memory--Summary--7. Another problem: non-compliance by health care professionals--Introduction--The magnitude of the problem--Causes of non-compliance by health care rofessionals--The reduction of professionals' non-compliance --Summary--8. The use of written information for patients--Introduction--The effectiveness of written information in improving communication--Is written information read by its intended audience?--Measuring the understandability of written information--The understandability of written information for patients as assessed by readability formulae--Recall of written material--Summary--9. The improvement of written information--Introduction--Effectiveness of attempts to improve written information by increasing readability--Effectiveness of other methods of improving written information--Attempts to improve the physical packaging of information--Summary--10. Selecting the content of communications--Introduction--Patients' and professionals' opinions--Effects of giving information which might cause adverse effects--Behaviourally defined objectives--Information needed for rational decision making by patients--Generating the universe of possible topics of information--Empirical criteria--Motivational content--Possible use of the health board model--The use of fear appeals and one-sided versus two-sided messages--Malignant compliance--Summary--11. The benefit of improved communication--Introduction--Increased patient knowledge and recall--Increased patient satisfaction--Genuinely informed consent--Increased patient compliance--Effects of improved communication on recovery from illness and surgery--Summary--12. A summary and some practical conclusions--Introduction--Satisfaction with communications--Understanding--Memory--Improving understanding and memory--Written information--The improvement of written information--Non-compliance by patients--Non-compliance by health care professionals--Selecting the content of communications--The benefits of improved communications--A brief practical guide to better communication--Increasing satisfaction--Selecting the content of the communication--Increasing understanding and recall--Diagrammatic summary.