PHYSICIAN-PATIENT COMMUNICATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION-SCIENCE

The physician-patient communication process has received little attent ion from library and information science (LIS) professionals. A limite d review of other literature on this topic was undertaken to gain some understanding of the information exchange from an LIS perspective. Th e authors were interested in four issues, including how information is defined; how information-seeking behavior is portrayed; what barriers to information exist in the exchange process; and what role, if any, information plays in health outcomes. Studies have been conducted by r esearchers in various disciplines who have defined communication as a giving and seeking activity between the physician and the patient. Bar riers to good communication, erected by either party or by both, preve nt the participants from experiencing a satisfactory encounter. Becaus e information can play a role in health outcomes, various strategies h ave been tried to improve the communication process. These studies pro vide a better understanding of the physician-patient encounter and sug gest new areas of patient-centered research for LIS professionals.