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Doctors May Drop Ball With Hepatitis C Patients |
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FRIDAY, April 23 (HealthDayNews) -- Poor communication skills and incompetence are among the problems cited by people with hepatitis C virus who say they're not satisfied with their doctors, says a study in the April issue of Hepatology.
The study, which included 322 patients at the University of Iowa, found that 23 percent questioned the competence of their doctor and 42 percent had communication problems with their doctor.
Of the patients who reported communication problems with their doctor, 69 percent identified poor doctor communication skills as the main issue. This left patients feeling rushed, ignored, misunderstood and treated unkindly.
Some patients felt their doctor wasn't able to diagnose or treat their disease and others felt they were stigmatized by their doctor as sexually promiscuous or as a drug abuser.
Emotional problems and low levels of social support were more common among HCV patients who reported conflict with their doctor. The study also found an association between reported conflict and patient failure to respond to antiviral therapy for hepatitis C.
"Although additional, prospective studies are needed to determine whether communications difficulties are a determinant of treatment outcome, these results lead us to question whether conflict between patients and their physicians may adversely affect medical adherence," the study authors wrote.
Treatment for hepatitis C involves 48 weeks of injectable and oral drug therapy.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about hepatitis C.
(SOURCE: John Wiley & Sons Inc., news release, April 2004)
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