The clinician's role in meeting patient information needs: suggested learning outcomes

Background Patients have always fulfilled their information needs from a va riety of different sources over time. Clinician-patient consultations are o ne part of that process. Some patients have increasing opportunities to obt ain information through new sources such as the internet, touch-screens, an d patient-held records. Others remain poorly informed. Objectives To identify learning outcomes for clinicians in meeting patient information needs and working with well-informed patients. Design Four-stage multicentre multidisciplinary qualitative study. Setting and subjects (1) Semistructured interviews with 20 clinicians in Gl asgow; (2) semistructured interviews with 52 clinicians in Nottingham and L ondon; (3) testing of consensus by postal questionnaire and Delphi method a mongst 37 clinicians in medicine, nursing and the professions allied to med icine, and (4) conference to discuss results. Results 46 learning outcomes were identified in the eight areas of: placing a higher priority on patient information and education; understanding the patient's information needs and environment; understanding the emotional as pects of learning; developing patient understanding; helping patients to un derstand about health care and health care information; learning from the p atient; knowing about information sources and their use, and issues of mult idisciplinary working. Conclusions The suggested learning outcomes provide the basis for wider dis cussion, for possible inclusion in curricula both at undergraduate and cont inuing education levels, and as the basis for the development of new educat ional materials.