Pe. Terry et Ml. Healey, The physician's role in educating patients - A comparison of mailed versusphysician-delivered patient education, J FAM PRACT, 49(4), 2000, pp. 314-318
BACKGROUND Patients value receiving educational information during office v
isits, but physicians often lack the time or training to satisfy this need.
We examined whether an increased physician role in educating patients is a
n effective means of improving patient satisfaction.
METHODS Using a nonrandomized controlled research design, we compared patie
nt satisfaction with self-care information provided by traditional direct-m
ail approaches and by physicians during routine office visits. We also stud
ied a control group of patients receiving usual care.
RESULTS Patients who recieved a medical self-care book from a physician wer
e significantly more likely to be satisfied with their office visit than th
ose who received ed the book in the mail or those who experienced usual car
e. The intervention group reported greater satisfaction with 11 out of 13 v
ariables ables related to physician-patient this article by patient communi
cation and quality of care. There were no significant differences between t
he control group and the direct-mail group.
CONCLUSIONS The patients who received self-care information from their phys
icians were significantly more satisfied with their care and their physicia
n-patient communication experience than those in either the direct-mail gro
up or the control group. Our findings lend support to the growing evidence
that patients informed by their physicians are more satisfied with their ca
re.