How Do Patients Define Satisfaction? The Role of Patient Perceptions of Their Participation and Health Provider Emotional Expression.

Patient satisfaction is important to patient outcomes. Previous attempts to conceptualize satisfaction have often taken an atheoretical approach and focused on doctors' communication skills. Patients are becoming more active health consumers involved in their health care and current definitions of patient satisfaction may not accurately reflect patient expectations about their health consultations. Earlier research found that meeting patients' emotional needs - through empathy and patient-centered communication - is important to patient satisfaction. New research is needed to explore how those needs can be met given the changing trend in patient behaviors and the focus on patient-centredness. This study employed two communication theories - the Willingness to Communicate Model and Communication Accommodation Theory - to consider both patients' communicative decisions, and the intergroup features of the health context that can influence communicative behaviors. Two hundred and fifty-three patients from health clinics in Canada and Australia described what satisfaction meant to them, and identified what aspects of their health consultation were satisfying (or not), and we investigated their perceptions of doctor's emotional expression. Results suggest that patient perceptions of their participation in the consultation predicts their perceptions of doctor emotional expression, and their satisfaction with the consultation. Patients want both emotional and medical needs met in an environment that balances interpersonal and intergroup communication. Our findings suggest the need to expand current definitions of patient satisfaction, patient-centredness and emotional expression. We discuss the implications of these findings for health practitioners and consider future research that addresses the need for more individualized health care.

FPIN's Clinical Inquiries. Aspirin use in children for fever or viral syndromes.

Aspirin should not be used to treat acute febrile viral illness in children. (Strength of Recommendation [SOR]: C, based on case-control studies). Although no causal link has been proven, data from case-control and historic cohort studies demonstrate an association between aspirin use and Reye syndrome. The risk of Reye syndrome decreases with age, becoming extremely rare by the late teenage years. Other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are effective antipyretics and are not associated with the constellation of symptoms seen in Reye syndrome, which includes nausea, vomiting, headache, excitability, delirium, combativeness, and coma. Aspirin use in children younger than 19 years should be limited to diseases in which aspirin has a proven benefit, such as Kawasaki disease and the juvenile arthritides. (SOR: C, based on expert opinion).

Clinical inquiries. What best prevents exercise-induced bronchoconstriction for a child with asthma?

Inhaled short-acting beta-agonists (SABAs) are most effective in preventing exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, followed by inhaled mast cell stabilizers and anticholinergic agents (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, multiple randomized control trials [RCTs]). Less evidence supports the use of leukotriene antagonists and inhaled corticosteroids, either individually or in combination (SOR: B). Underlying asthma, which commonly contributes to exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, should be diagnosed and controlled first (SOR: C).

Clinical inquiries. What is the best way to diagnose a suspected rotator cuff tear?

The evaluation of a suspected rotator cuff tear should start with a history and a clinical exam of the shoulder (strength of recommendation [SOR]: B, based on a systematic review of cohort studies). Three clinical test results in particular--supraspinatus weakness, weakness of external rotation, and impingement--or 2 positive tests for a patient older than 60 years were highly predictive of rotator cuff tear (SOR: B, based on individual prospective study). Either magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or ultrasound can confirm a possible full-thickness tear (SOR: B, based on a systematic review of cohort studies). If a patient has an implantable device prohibiting MRI imaging, conventional arthrography is an alternative (SOR: A, individual randomized controlled trial). Suspected partial-thickness tears are best verified with an ultrasound (SOR: B, based on a systematic review of cohort studies).

Clinical inquiries. How should we manage a patient with a positive PPD and prior BCG vaccination?

Prior bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination increases the likelihood of a positive tuberculosis (TB) 5TU purified protein derivative (PPD) skin test. The PPD response following BCG vaccine varies with age at vaccination, number of years since the BCG vaccination, number of times vaccinated, and number of PPDs performed. An induration of greater than 14 mm is unlikely to be due to prior BCG vaccination (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, based on meta-analysis of validation cohort studies). The variable reaction after BCG vaccination, along with the desire to detect all cases of TB, has led to recommendations that all patients with a positive PPD test be treated as true positives. These patients should undergo chest radiography and appropriate treatment, regardless of history of BCG vaccine (SOR: B, extrapolation from level 1 study). A recently developed alternative is the interferon-gamma assay (QuantiFERON-TB Gold test), which may be used in place of, or in addition to, the PPD skin test for patients who are known to have received a BCG vaccine (SOR: B, extrapolation from a validation cohort study).

Clinical inquiries. What is appropriate management of iron deficiency for young children?

Infants and toddlers with suspected iron-deficiency anemia should begin treatment with oral ferrous sulfate (3 mg/kg/d of elemental iron). A rise in hemoglobin >1 g/dL after 4 weeks supports the diagnosis of iron deficiency, and supplementation should continue for 2 additional months to replenish iron stores. Recheck hemoglobin at the end of treatment and again 6 months later (strength of recommendation [SOR]: C, based on expert opinion). For primary prevention, counsel parents on the use of iron-fortified formula for non-breastfed infants until the age 12 months (SOR: B, based on randomized controlled study), and introduce iron-rich foods between 4 and 6 months to breastfed babies (SOR: C, based on expert opinion).

Clinical inquiries: what's the best way to manage upper extremity venous thrombosis?

Standard management is best: start with unfractionated heparin or low-molecular-weight heparin and follow with long-term therapy with a vitamin K antagonist. Some evidence supports thrombolytic therapy, placement of a superior vena cava filter, or surgical thrombectomy in selected patients. Whether to remove venous catheters during initial treatment for catheter-induced venous thrombosis remains unclear, because limited studies address this issue specifically.

Clinical Inquiries: Which drugs should post-MI patients routinely receive?

Patients should be placed on the following medications: antiplatelet agents, (meta-analysis for aspirin, multiple randomized controlled trials [RCTs] for aspirin plus clopidogrel); a statin; atorvastatin has the best evidence (a single RCT); a beta-blocker (meta-analysis); renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockers, whether or not the ejection fraction is diminished after myocardial infarction (MI) (SOR: A, meta-analysis for angiotensin-converting enzyme [ACE] inhibitor; B, single RCT for ACE inhibitor plus aldosterone blocker).

Clinical inquiries: How can you help prevent a recurrence of diverticulitis?

EVIDENCE-BASED ANSWER: A high-fiber diet may help; available evidence does not support other interventions. A high-fiber diet is often prescribed after recovery from acute diverticulitis, based on extrapolation from epidemiologic data showing an association between low-fiber diets and diverticulosis. No direct evidence establishes a role for fiber in preventing recurrent diverticulitis, however. No evidence supports the common advice to avoid nuts and seeds to prevent diverticulitis. Eating nuts, corn, and popcorn does not increase the risk; in fact, nuts and popcorn may have a protective effect. There is not enough evidence to recommend the anti-inflammatory drug mesalamine or a polybacterial lysate for immunostimulation. Retrospective data do not support routine prophylactic colectomy after 1 or 2 episodes of acute diverticulitis.