Cargando…

Information from physicians and retention of information by patients – Obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end

BACKGROUND: Discrepancies between the information that patients have received and the patients' awareness of their condition have frequently been observed in literature and given a number of different explanations. The chief contribution of this study is that by following patients over time it...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hoff, Lena, Hermerén, Göran
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2292688/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18307800
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-684X-7-2
_version_ 1782152509943447552
author Hoff, Lena
Hermerén, Göran
author_facet Hoff, Lena
Hermerén, Göran
author_sort Hoff, Lena
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Discrepancies between the information that patients have received and the patients' awareness of their condition have frequently been observed in literature and given a number of different explanations. The chief contribution of this study is that by following patients over time it is possible not only to notice any changes in the patients' knowledge or awareness of their disease, but also to investigate the interview material for possible reasons for those changes. Since the study is based on two different groups of patients it will also be possible to notice if the category of disease matters for patients' awareness of their condition. METHODS: Twelve patients with malign haematological diseases or lung cancer were followed with interviews from diagnosis to cure or death, or at most for two years. The method is qualitative. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed into written text, and then used for a qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: During the process of analysis four different expressions (subcategories) emerged about the awareness of patients concerning their health status: informed and aware, not informed and not aware, aware though not informed, or not aware though informed. Then the search started for obstacles to the awareness of patients regarding their progressing disease and approaching death. Four kinds of obstacles were found: due to the physician, the patient, the physician and the patient in collusion, or neither to the physician nor the patient but the insidious way in which lung cancer (mostly) and haematological malignancies (occasionally) progress. CONCLUSION: To optimize the care of patients who wish to be informed and aware during their disease, it is important that the health care staff recognizes potential obstacles to the awareness of patients in order to minimize such obstacles. The physicians could improve their communication with patients with life-threatening diseases, and avoid having a narrow focus on the treatment calendar. The patients could be encouraged to have a more proactive attitude in their communication with their physician.
format Text
id pubmed-2292688
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2008
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-22926882008-04-12 Information from physicians and retention of information by patients – Obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end Hoff, Lena Hermerén, Göran BMC Palliat Care Research Article BACKGROUND: Discrepancies between the information that patients have received and the patients' awareness of their condition have frequently been observed in literature and given a number of different explanations. The chief contribution of this study is that by following patients over time it is possible not only to notice any changes in the patients' knowledge or awareness of their disease, but also to investigate the interview material for possible reasons for those changes. Since the study is based on two different groups of patients it will also be possible to notice if the category of disease matters for patients' awareness of their condition. METHODS: Twelve patients with malign haematological diseases or lung cancer were followed with interviews from diagnosis to cure or death, or at most for two years. The method is qualitative. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed into written text, and then used for a qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: During the process of analysis four different expressions (subcategories) emerged about the awareness of patients concerning their health status: informed and aware, not informed and not aware, aware though not informed, or not aware though informed. Then the search started for obstacles to the awareness of patients regarding their progressing disease and approaching death. Four kinds of obstacles were found: due to the physician, the patient, the physician and the patient in collusion, or neither to the physician nor the patient but the insidious way in which lung cancer (mostly) and haematological malignancies (occasionally) progress. CONCLUSION: To optimize the care of patients who wish to be informed and aware during their disease, it is important that the health care staff recognizes potential obstacles to the awareness of patients in order to minimize such obstacles. The physicians could improve their communication with patients with life-threatening diseases, and avoid having a narrow focus on the treatment calendar. The patients could be encouraged to have a more proactive attitude in their communication with their physician. BioMed Central 2008-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC2292688/ /pubmed/18307800 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-684X-7-2 Text en Copyright © 2008 Hoff and Hermerén; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hoff, Lena
Hermerén, Göran
Information from physicians and retention of information by patients – Obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end
title Information from physicians and retention of information by patients – Obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end
title_full Information from physicians and retention of information by patients – Obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end
title_fullStr Information from physicians and retention of information by patients – Obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end
title_full_unstemmed Information from physicians and retention of information by patients – Obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end
title_short Information from physicians and retention of information by patients – Obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end
title_sort information from physicians and retention of information by patients – obstacles to the awareness of patients of progressing disease when life is near the end
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2292688/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18307800
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-684X-7-2
work_keys_str_mv AT hofflena informationfromphysiciansandretentionofinformationbypatientsobstaclestotheawarenessofpatientsofprogressingdiseasewhenlifeisneartheend
AT hermerengoran informationfromphysiciansandretentionofinformationbypatientsobstaclestotheawarenessofpatientsofprogressingdiseasewhenlifeisneartheend