scholarly journals How doctors make themselves understood in primary care consultations: A mixed methods analysis of video data applying health literacy universal precautions

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257312
Author(s):  
Jennifer V. Byrne ◽  
Katriina L. Whitaker ◽  
Georgia B. Black

Purpose To mitigate the health risks that result from low health literacy and difficulty identifying patients with insufficient health literacy, health organizations recommend physicians apply health literacy universal precaution communication skills when communicating with all patients. Our aim was to assess how health literacy universal precautions are delivered in routine GP consultations, and explore whether there were differences in how GPs used universal precaution approaches according to areas of deprivation in England. Methods This was a mixed methods study using video and interview data. Ten physicians conducted 217 consultations in primary care settings with adults over 50 years old between July 2017 and March 2018 in England. Eighty consultations (N = 80) met the inclusion criteria of new or persisting problems. Descriptive quantitative analysis of video-recorded consultations using an observation tool and qualitative thematic analysis of transcribed scripts. Meta-themes explored differences in physicians’ communication by areas of deprivation. Results Descriptive statistics showed physicians used a caring tone of voice and attitude (n = 73, 91.3%) and displayed comfortable body language (n = 69, 86.3%) but infrequently demonstrated profession-specific health literacy universal precaution communication skills, such as the teach-back technique (n = 3, 3.8%). Inferences about physicians’ communication from qualitative analysis converged with the quantitative findings. Differences in physicians’ communication varied according to areas of deprivation. Conclusions Physicians need health literacy universal precautions communication skills to improve population health.

2008 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 482-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Volk ◽  
Maria L. Jibaja-Weiss ◽  
Sarah T. Hawley ◽  
Suzanne Kneuper ◽  
Stephen J. Spann ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Doron Sagi ◽  
Sivan Spitzer-Shohat ◽  
Michal Schuster ◽  
Ligat Daudi ◽  
Mary Catharine Joy Rudolf

Abstract Background Low health literacy underpins health inequality and leads to poor adherence to medical care and higher risk of adverse events and rehospitalization. Communication in plain language, therefore, is an essential skill for health professionals to acquire. Most medical education communication skill programs focus on verbal communication, while written communication training is scarce. ETGAR is a student delivered service for vulnerable patients after hospital discharge in which, amongst other duties, students ‘translate’ the medical discharge letters into plain language and share them with patients at a home visit. This study ascertains how this plain language training impacted on students’ written communication skills using a tool designed for purpose. Methods Students, in pairs, wrote three plain language discharge letters over the course of a year for patients whom they encountered in hospital. The students handed over and shared the letters with the patients during a post-discharge home visit. Structured feedback from course instructors was given for each letter. An assessment tool was developed to evaluate students’ ability to tell the hospitalization narrative using plain and clear language. First and last letters were blindly evaluated for the entire cohort (74 letters; 87 students). Results Students scored higher in all assessment categories in the third letters, with significant improvement in overall score 3.5 ± 0.8 vs 4.1 ± 0.6 Z = -3.43, p = 0.001. The assessment tool’s reliability was high α = 0.797, it successfully differentiated between plain language categories, and its score was not affected by letter length or patient’s medical condition. Conclusions Plain language discharge letters written for real patients in the context of experience-based learning improved in quality, providing students with skills to work effectively in an environment where poor health literacy is prevalent. ETGAR may serve as a model for learning written communication skills during clinical years, using the assessment tool for formative or summative evaluation.


MedEdPORTAL ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Howley ◽  
Christine Peterson ◽  
Eugene Barrett ◽  
John Gazewood ◽  
William Wilson ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 675-684
Author(s):  
Preethi Shankar ◽  
Abilasha R ◽  
Preetha S

Universal precautions are a vital standard set of rules applied to be followed by patients and doctors while carrying out any clinical procedure, but especially in patients with blood-borne diseases or infections. It is carried out to prevent the spread of infection from one person to another. Universal precautions are of great significance to medical personnel, where they expose themselves to numerous infectious diseases. The research aimed to assess and improve knowledge about universal precautions among health care personnel to reduce the rate of harmful exposure and infections among them. A questionnaire comprising 20 questions was created and circulated among 100 health care workers through the online platform "Google forms". The results were collected and analysed. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS. It was evident that many people were not aware of the seriousness of universal precautions. Fortunately, many medical personals followed and were aware of universal precaution to an extent. Universal precaution should be followed religiously and judiciously to prevent the spread of deadly diseases.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e039920
Author(s):  
Ailbhe Spillane ◽  
Sarahjane Belton ◽  
Clare McDermott ◽  
Johann Issartel ◽  
Richard H Osborne ◽  
...  

IntroductionHealth literacy research has focused predominantly on the adult population, and much less is understood about this concept from an adolescent perspective. The tools currently available to measure adolescent health literacy have been adapted from adult versions. This limits their applicability to young people because of the developmental characteristics that impact on adolescents’ behaviour, including impulse control and judgement skills. This protocol describes the intended development and validity testing of a questionnaire to measure health literacy in adolescents.Methods and analysisThis protocol describes this mixed methods study that has three phases: the first phase will involve grounded research with adolescents using qualitative group interviews, co-design and concept mapping workshops to understand what health and healthy behaviours mean to adolescents and to explore their health literacy needs and the potential domains for the questionnaire. The draft health literacy domains identified will be presented to the youth advisory panel, and the questionnaire will be altered based on their feedback. Cognitive pretesting of the questionnaire items will also be conducted. Phase 2 will involve piloting the questionnaire to a two-stage random sample of young people in five urban and rural schools in Ireland. Test–retest reliability will be conducted using Pearson correlation coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis will also be conducted to analyse the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. Phase 3 will involve the questionnaire being rolled out to a nationally representative sample of adolescents (n=6052) in Ireland to assess their levels of health literacy.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval to conduct this study has been granted from the University College Dublin Human Research Ethics Committee – Sciences (LS-20–08). Informed assent from adolescents and informed consent from parents/guardians will be sought. The findings of this research will be disseminated at national and international conferences, as well as through publication in peer-reviewed journals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110237
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Carney ◽  
W. Perry Dickinson ◽  
Jay Fetter ◽  
Eric J. Warm ◽  
Brenda Zierler ◽  
...  

Introduction/Objectives: Coaching is emerging as a form of facilitation in health professions education. Most studies focus on one-on-one coaching rather than team coaching. We assessed the experiences of interprofessional teams coached to simultaneously improve primary care residency training and interprofessional practice. Methods: This three-year exploratory mixed methods study included transformational assistance from 9 interprofessional coaches, one assigned to each of 9 interprofessional primary care teams that included family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, nursing, pharmacy and behavioral health. Coaches interacted with teams during 2 in-person training sessions, an in-person site visit, and then as requested by their teams. Surveys administered at 1 year and end study assessed the coaching relationship and process. Results: The majority of participants (82% at end of Year 1 and 76.6% at end study) agreed or strongly agreed that their coach developed a positive working relationship with their team. Participants indicated coaches helped them: (1) develop as teams, (2) stay on task, and (3) respond to local context issues, with between 54.3% and 69.2% agreeing or strongly agreeing that their coaches were helpful in these areas. Cronbach’s alpha for the 15 coaching survey items was 0.965. Challenges included aligning the coach’s expertise with the team’s needs. Conclusions: While team coaching was well received by interprofessional teams of primary care professionals undertaking educational and clinical redesign, the 3 primary care disciplines have much to learn from each other regarding how to improve inter- and intra-professional collaborative practice among clinicians and staff as well as with interprofessional learners rotating through their outpatient clinics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Lebow ◽  
Cassandra Narr ◽  
Angela Mattke ◽  
Janna R. Gewirtz O’Brien ◽  
Marcie Billings ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The primary care setting offers an attractive opportunity for, not only the identification of pediatric eating disorders, but also the delivery of evidence-based treatment. However, constraints of this setting pose barriers for implementing treatment. For interventions to be successful, they need to take into consideration the perspectives of stakeholders. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine in-depth primary care providers’ perspective of challenges to identifying and managing eating disorders in the primary care setting. Methods This mixed methods study surveyed 60 Pediatric and Family Medicine providers across 6 primary care practices. Sixteen of these providers were further interviewed using a qualitative, semi-structured interview. Results Providers (n = 60, response rate of 45%) acknowledged the potential of primary care as a point of contact for early identification and treatment of pediatric eating disorders. They also expressed that this was an area of need in their practices. They identified numerous barriers to successful implementation of evidence-based treatment in this setting including scarcity of time, knowledge, and resources. Conclusions Investigations seeking to build capacities in primary care settings to address eating disorders must address these barriers.


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