I have more to report on patient trust. This publication focused on the patient’s source of learning about health technology. The reason for this study was to help Industrial Engineers design more effective health technology. In an effort to do this, Dr. Montague points out how important it is to understand how patients learn and what they base their decisions on.
A pool of 24 patients was studied. The three major themes that emerged were; outside of the work system vs. inside the work system, when the health information was provided, and the medium used. I was not surprised to see that there were multiple outside sources used, to better understand the technology patients were encountering during their care.
Many Americans know that there are resources such as the Internet that allows answers to any question to be at your fingertips. They want to know about the machine that they are being hooked to, even if they cannot pronounce its name.
The final results did show a correlation between the knowledge being attained from the Internet, with trust in technologies, but there was no correlation with knowledge attain from health care providers and trust. I think this can be attributed to people not have trust in the healthcare provider. They may feel as if they are not being completely honest about the technology because they just want you to consent to allowing them to proceed. Others may just feel as though the provider’s opinion is biased. Whatever the case maybe, people tend to do their own research to gather knowledge of the technology the doctors as using. This is important because once, we know how to gain the patient’s trust we can better design for them.
This article I think hits it dead on the head of the nail. I know that before I go to the doctor to consult them of a problem, I always seek the internet first. Whether it's wikipedia or the mayo clinic website or just an informative website in general, i always want to get some sort of background on the information before I start talking to the doctor. This is partly because I don't want to look stupid in from of the doctor when I'm asking questions and I want to show them that I have done a little research, but also because I am comparing the two sources.
ReplyDeleteI do however take the information from the doctor to heart and usually refer to that over what the internet says.
It's definitely not surprising that people are more likely to trust information from outside resources than their own health care providers. I generally don't trust everything my doctors say, partly because I have a fear of doctors and their offices. And doing outside research is always a good way to learn more about your medical condition/procedures. But it's also important to realize that doctors often know what's best for you.
ReplyDelete