Background:
Studies reveal that patient – physician communication effects patient's health condition and their utilization of health services. Lately, a correlation was found between different physicians' communication styles and patients' compliance, trust in the physician, and satisfaction of the service. A correlation was also documented in relation to the type/severity of the illness and patients' desire for specific communication style. These studies emphasize the importance of the communication style of the physician to the perception of the quality of therapy and service, by patients in different health conditions.
Objectives:
1) To identify the communication style preferred by elderly cancer patients.
2) To examine the association between primary physicians' communication styles and satisfaction from the physician and the service, self-rated health and utilization of health services among these patients.
The examined health utilization variables are: number of primary physicians and specialists office visits, number of hospital admissions and medical tests 6 months preceding the interview.
Hypothesis:
A correlation is expected between physicians' communication styles and:
1) Level of patients' satisfaction from the physicians and the service;
2) Patients' self-rated health;
3) Number of visits at the primary physicians and specialists office, hospitalizations and medical tests.
Methods:
260 elderly cancer patients of "Maccabi Health Services" will be randomly sampled. A valid and reliable tools will be used for examining the study variables. These tools will be adapted to the specific characteristics of the study population. The variables of the utilization of health services as well as the severity of the illness will be derived from the databases of "Maccabi Health Services".
|