Effect of Intervention on Patients’ Reports About Physician Communication and Medication
| Report | No. of Patients | All Patients | Intervention Group | Control Group | P Value a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| About physician | |||||
| Overall communication, mean score (SD) | 82 | 5.67 (0.60) | 5.74 (0.54) | 5.59 (0.66) | .49 |
| Trust in physician, mean score (SD) | 82 | 4.68 (0.55) | 4.72 (0.52) | 4.62 (0.59) | .68 |
| Communication about new medication, No. (%)b | 111 | 7.90 (2.81) | 8.78 (2.23) | 6.87 (3.09) | .02 |
| What medicine is called | 107 | 103 (96.3) | 56 (94.9) | 47 (97.9) | .53 |
| What medicine is for | 106 | 105 (99.1) | 57 (98.3) | 48 (100) | .36 |
| Why medicine is important to take | 103 | 90 (87.4) | 51 (89.5) | 39 (84.8) | .63 |
| How to take the medicine | 102 | 95 (93.1) | 54 (96.4) | 41 (89.1) | .07 |
| How long to take medicine | 103 | 92 (89.3) | 56 (96.6) | 36 (80.0) | .03 |
| How to get further medicine supply (if applicable) | 81 | 69 (85.2) | 42 (82.4) | 30 (90.9) | .37 |
| Whether medicine has side effects | 103 | 75 (72.8) | 50 (86.2) | 25 (55.6) | .001 |
| Risk of getting side effects | 105 | 64 (61.0) | 43 (76.8) | 21 (42.9) | .003 |
| What to do if side effects occur | 100 | 63 (63.0) | 40 (74.1) | 23 (50.0) | .008 |
| Interactions with other medicines | 100 | 62 (62.0) | 43 (81.1) | 19 (40.4) | <.001 |
| About new medication immediately after the visit | |||||
| Planning to take new medication, No. (%) | 110 | 107 (97.3) | 59 (98.3) | 48 (96.0) | .56 |
| Certainty about taking new medication, mean score (SD) | 111 | 8.94 (2.16) | 9.30 (1.96) | 8.51 (2.29) | .04 |
| Importance of new medication, mean score (SD) | 111 | 3.61 (0.62) | 3.65 (0.61) | 3.57 (0.64) | .52 |
| Worry about condition medication is for, mean score (SD) | 111 | 2.36 (1.02) | 2.45 (1.08) | 2.25 (0.93) | .32 |
Note: Data are presented as mean (SD) unless otherwise indicated. Unit of analyses for overall communication and trust in physician is the patient; unit of analyses for all other outcomes is the new medication. Overall communication ranges from 1 to 6; trust in physician ranges from 1 to 5; communication about new medication and certainty about taking new medication range from 0 to 10; and importance of new medication and worry about condition range from 1 to 4. Higher scores indicate better communication, more trust, and greater certainty, importance, and worry.