Patients and families benefit from strategies that empower them to actively participate with clinicians. The nuance of understanding required to support effective healthcare relationships, however, can be hard to achieve when communication styles make it difficult for clinicians and patients to understand each other. In addition to other stresses, English spoken with regional or foreign […]
How do we improve patient satisfaction and experience while reducing overall healthcare costs? Create knowledgeable patients. As reported in Modern Healthcare, a study published in 2013 found that patients who feel they have the “knowledge, skills and confidence to make healthy choices and informed medical decisions were less costly than those who felt they lacked […]
Few health researchers have the chance to survey hundreds of thousands of American consumers on health topics but we did just that as leaders of the research teams that led, designed, fielded and reported patient experience data at Consumer Reports from 2008 to 2013. From ADHD to weight loss, from back pain to laser […]
Two elderly, low-income women, one black and one Hispanic, visit the same doctor. During each appointment, the doctor makes some suggestions. The black woman disagrees and speaks up; the Hispanic woman disagrees and stays silent. Later, the black woman decides to switch physicians; the Hispanic woman does nothing. Stereotyping? Not at all. The scenario above […]