Breast cancer: quality of care improves with communication

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 357 - 6 Apr 2002

■ Physician-initiated communication can improvequality of care for elderly women with localised breastcancer by increasing patient satisfaction andperception of treatment choice, say researchers in theUS. They obtained data from 613 such patients (aged≥ 67 years) and their surgeons to look at outcomesassociated with patient-physician communication.Results indicated that a higher level of patient-physician communication was associated with agreater sense of treatment choice and patientsatisfaction with care; patients were more than twiceas likely to be satisfied with breast cancer care andhave a perception of patient choice when physician-initiated communication was rated as high comparedwith low.Liang W, et al. Communication between physicians and older women withlocalized breast cancer: implications for treatment and patient satisfaction.Journal of Clinical Oncology 20: 1008-1016, 15 Feb 2002 800896221

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 6 Apr 2002 No. 3571173-5503/10/0357-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved