Finding the Value: Identifying the Key Elements of Primary Care Visits for Patients, Clinicians, and Caregivers
Principal Investigator
Paul J. Barr, PhD (Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College)
Public Health Relevance
Clinic visit information continues to be patients’ most trusted resource for medical information. To date, there has been little research on what is important to patients, caregivers and clinicians, and whether these views overlap. By identifying what information is most important to patients, caregivers and clinicians, interventions to promote patient engagement in decision making and self-management can be better designed. This can result in better patient centered communication both in clinic and at home.
Funding Source
None
Project Period: Jan 2017 -
Other Project Staff
Dartmouth College: Michelle Dannenberg, MPH; Kyra Bonasia, PhD; Ariel Wampler, MD; Subasish Bhowmik, MD; Hansa Sharma; William Haslett, PhD; Craig Ganoe, MS; Karen Shifferdecker, PhD; Kanak Verma, MD, MPH Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center: Garrett Wasp, MD
Project Summary
There exists a gap in our understanding of what information exchanged during a clinic visit is of most value to patients, caregivers and clinicians. Understanding where the ‘value’ lies in clinic visits would offer important insights that could be used to improve the design and content of patient decision aids and after visit summaries. The goal of this project is to find out what aspects of the clinic visit are most important to patients, caregivers and clinicians. We will recruit five clinicians and three to five of their patients from primary care and speciality clinics in rural New Hampshire. Patients will have their visits audio recorded and will then listen back to the recording and identify elements of the clinic visit most important to them. Caregivers accompanying patients will also be invited to review the audio recording and identify what matters most from their perspective. Clinicians will review transcripts of the same visits and will identify what information they feel is most important for patients. Common themes will then be identified across stakeholder groups. The expected outcome of this study is a better understanding of the most valued elements in a conversation between a physician and a patient during a clinical visit.