For this post, I have selected Baker and Connor’s article “Physician-Patient Communication from the Perspective of Library and Information Science”. The authors have focused on a number of articles that best answer the main questions in the study. These questions are as follows:
• How is information defined in the physician-patient communication process?
• How is information-seeking behavior portrayed?
• What barriers to information are identified in this literature?
• What role, if any, does information play in health outcome measures?
The authors used Brenda Dervin’s sense-making concept to explain how patients and doctors communicate. Dervin found information to be anything a person needs to make sense of any situational event. A person may depend on his/her prior knowledge, but if the gap in their knowledge is large a person will definitely seek information from different resources to bridge the gap. The authors defined the communication process in two ways information giving and information seeking. When doctors answer questions, provide information, explain symptoms, and educate patients they are considered information givers. On the other hand, when patients ask questions, seek information or need instruction they are information seekers who are filling their gaps.
The authors stated that information in the medical environment is “a resource that patients wish to obtain from doctors,” such as “attention, emotional support, and medication.” An interesting point Baker and Connor included was that information can be dispensed like pills. This shows how important information is in this dynamic field. The authors investigated some of the barriers to information seeking in their study. They found that the medical field is rich in information and complex jargon that may form a big barrier between patient and doctor. These barriers can be “psychological, intellectual, physical, societal, and institutional factors.” Moreover, the authors stated that the level of anxiety, understanding, and the ability to process the provided information by doctors are some of major barriers. Patients wish to have time with doctors to understand their health problems, understand related medical jargons, and make sense of their situations. They also need instructions, recommendations, and explanations. In my opinion, these are problems that increase the gap in patients’ knowledge and increase the level of anxiety. One very important point here is the reliability of received information. Dervin stated that people seek information from different locations to make sense of their situations. However, in this case patients’ health safety is an important issue. Patients ask doctors to fill their gaps, but when they could not find the proper help due to the lack of time and difficult jargons without a clear explanation, they will try to find another source of information. It is very obvious that the Internet is the doctor for many situations. Let’s take Google search for example which I believe would be unreliable source to make sense of a health situation. We can see hundreds of medical forums and websites that give advice, medication, and a lot of information. Nevertheless, the majority of them are not recognized or supervised by medical authorizations. Consequently, serious health problems may be misunderstood, especially when patients are anxious and lack knowledge of their health situations. The authors concluded their study with some future questions; however, the validity of information sources should be considered, and they may form obvious barriers to information seeking.
-----------
Reference:
Baker, L. M., & Connor, J. J. (1994). Physician-patient communication from the perspective of library and information science. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 82(1), 36-42
• How is information defined in the physician-patient communication process?
• How is information-seeking behavior portrayed?
• What barriers to information are identified in this literature?
• What role, if any, does information play in health outcome measures?
The authors used Brenda Dervin’s sense-making concept to explain how patients and doctors communicate. Dervin found information to be anything a person needs to make sense of any situational event. A person may depend on his/her prior knowledge, but if the gap in their knowledge is large a person will definitely seek information from different resources to bridge the gap. The authors defined the communication process in two ways information giving and information seeking. When doctors answer questions, provide information, explain symptoms, and educate patients they are considered information givers. On the other hand, when patients ask questions, seek information or need instruction they are information seekers who are filling their gaps.
The authors stated that information in the medical environment is “a resource that patients wish to obtain from doctors,” such as “attention, emotional support, and medication.” An interesting point Baker and Connor included was that information can be dispensed like pills. This shows how important information is in this dynamic field. The authors investigated some of the barriers to information seeking in their study. They found that the medical field is rich in information and complex jargon that may form a big barrier between patient and doctor. These barriers can be “psychological, intellectual, physical, societal, and institutional factors.” Moreover, the authors stated that the level of anxiety, understanding, and the ability to process the provided information by doctors are some of major barriers. Patients wish to have time with doctors to understand their health problems, understand related medical jargons, and make sense of their situations. They also need instructions, recommendations, and explanations. In my opinion, these are problems that increase the gap in patients’ knowledge and increase the level of anxiety. One very important point here is the reliability of received information. Dervin stated that people seek information from different locations to make sense of their situations. However, in this case patients’ health safety is an important issue. Patients ask doctors to fill their gaps, but when they could not find the proper help due to the lack of time and difficult jargons without a clear explanation, they will try to find another source of information. It is very obvious that the Internet is the doctor for many situations. Let’s take Google search for example which I believe would be unreliable source to make sense of a health situation. We can see hundreds of medical forums and websites that give advice, medication, and a lot of information. Nevertheless, the majority of them are not recognized or supervised by medical authorizations. Consequently, serious health problems may be misunderstood, especially when patients are anxious and lack knowledge of their health situations. The authors concluded their study with some future questions; however, the validity of information sources should be considered, and they may form obvious barriers to information seeking.
-----------
Reference:
Baker, L. M., & Connor, J. J. (1994). Physician-patient communication from the perspective of library and information science. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 82(1), 36-42
No comments:
Post a Comment