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American Morning
Paging Dr. Gupta: Failure to Communicate
Aired May 02, 2003 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We are Paging Dr. Gupta this morning about a growing health care concern that's putting millions of people at risk, the doctor/patient communications gap.
Sanjay is at the CNN Center now to tell us what's being done to narrow the gap.
So tell us, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, really interesting. There's been a long history of problems of communication between doctors and patients, and now there's some new studies actually looking at the problem. There's a lot of reasons actually to try and look at in terms of why this might be occurring.
First of all, over the years now, you've had more complicated procedures than ever before. These procedures are getting more complicated, and as a result, more difficult to explain. Also, more medications than there have been in the past. Compared to 30 years ago now, 10,000 medications versus just about over 650 medications 30 years ago.
And finally, patients are becoming more and more responsible for their own care, whereas patients may stay in the hospital for six weeks and get the attention of the doctors and nurses for that entire period of time, oftentimes they're out of the hospital in five days now. Because of that, a lot of patients are becoming more responsible their care, responsible for learning more of the information, and a study looks at what is the impact of that, the impact having the patients be responsible for all of that.
Sort of interesting actually, trying to figure out how much patients actually keep in mind after they visit with the doctor. What they found is that most of the information literally goes in one ear and out the other.
Here are some numbers: 40 to 80 percent of medical information is immediately forgotten. The greater the amount of information, the lower of the proportion actually recalled later on. So if they're getting more information during a visit, no matter how long, more of it is actually forgotten later on as well. And almost half of the information is remembered incorrectly in addition to that.
Now, this study also went on to say there are tips out there, tips to try and give to patients and to doctors to try and combat some of this poor communication. The tips are actually kind of interesting. Here is a couple of them actually to think about. Bring somebody with you to the doctor's office. Bring a list of questions with you to the doctor's office, about sometimes you may forget when you get there. Get the stuff in writing, so you actually have the things in writing.
Before you get there, take notes, and while you're at the doctor's office. Take additional notes while you're there. Ask questions during the appointment, and ask for resources as well. Sometimes the pamphlets, a lot of these pamphlets are written at the 11th grade level. The average reading level around the United States is eighth grade level, so some of those pamphlets might have to become a little bit less complicated as well. But these are some tips. These are some of things to try and reduce that communication gap -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sounds like a good homework assignment.
Hey, can you tell us about this new study, about fiber and cancer?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's sort of an interesting thing. The conventional wisdom for a long time was that a high-fiber diet, a diet rich in fiber, would actually reduce the risk of colon cancer. That is what I remember learning in medical school, but then there were some studies that came out about a decade ago, that said, not so fast, we don't the high-fiber diet actually does anything to reduce the risk of colon cancer.
So finally now, one of the largest studies, a National Institute of Cancer study, looking at the huge number of patients that have no history of colon cancer, feeding them a high-fiber diet, and people who do have a high risk of colon cancer, and what they find is that a high-fiber diet does reduce your risk of colon cancer by as much as 40 percent, specifically 35 grams of fiber in your day, quite a bit of fiber, but if you're taking that much, you can reduce your colon cancer risk by almost half.
COSTELLO: That's good news, because you know, it just gets so confusing, because studies come out and say the opposite of the study before, but I'm glad to hear you can still eat fiber and fight your cancer chances.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, many thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 2, 2003 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We are Paging Dr. Gupta this morning about a growing health care concern that's putting millions of people at risk, the doctor/patient communications gap.
Sanjay is at the CNN Center now to tell us what's being done to narrow the gap.
So tell us, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, really interesting. There's been a long history of problems of communication between doctors and patients, and now there's some new studies actually looking at the problem. There's a lot of reasons actually to try and look at in terms of why this might be occurring.
First of all, over the years now, you've had more complicated procedures than ever before. These procedures are getting more complicated, and as a result, more difficult to explain. Also, more medications than there have been in the past. Compared to 30 years ago now, 10,000 medications versus just about over 650 medications 30 years ago.
And finally, patients are becoming more and more responsible for their own care, whereas patients may stay in the hospital for six weeks and get the attention of the doctors and nurses for that entire period of time, oftentimes they're out of the hospital in five days now. Because of that, a lot of patients are becoming more responsible their care, responsible for learning more of the information, and a study looks at what is the impact of that, the impact having the patients be responsible for all of that.
Sort of interesting actually, trying to figure out how much patients actually keep in mind after they visit with the doctor. What they found is that most of the information literally goes in one ear and out the other.
Here are some numbers: 40 to 80 percent of medical information is immediately forgotten. The greater the amount of information, the lower of the proportion actually recalled later on. So if they're getting more information during a visit, no matter how long, more of it is actually forgotten later on as well. And almost half of the information is remembered incorrectly in addition to that.
Now, this study also went on to say there are tips out there, tips to try and give to patients and to doctors to try and combat some of this poor communication. The tips are actually kind of interesting. Here is a couple of them actually to think about. Bring somebody with you to the doctor's office. Bring a list of questions with you to the doctor's office, about sometimes you may forget when you get there. Get the stuff in writing, so you actually have the things in writing.
Before you get there, take notes, and while you're at the doctor's office. Take additional notes while you're there. Ask questions during the appointment, and ask for resources as well. Sometimes the pamphlets, a lot of these pamphlets are written at the 11th grade level. The average reading level around the United States is eighth grade level, so some of those pamphlets might have to become a little bit less complicated as well. But these are some tips. These are some of things to try and reduce that communication gap -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sounds like a good homework assignment.
Hey, can you tell us about this new study, about fiber and cancer?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's sort of an interesting thing. The conventional wisdom for a long time was that a high-fiber diet, a diet rich in fiber, would actually reduce the risk of colon cancer. That is what I remember learning in medical school, but then there were some studies that came out about a decade ago, that said, not so fast, we don't the high-fiber diet actually does anything to reduce the risk of colon cancer.
So finally now, one of the largest studies, a National Institute of Cancer study, looking at the huge number of patients that have no history of colon cancer, feeding them a high-fiber diet, and people who do have a high risk of colon cancer, and what they find is that a high-fiber diet does reduce your risk of colon cancer by as much as 40 percent, specifically 35 grams of fiber in your day, quite a bit of fiber, but if you're taking that much, you can reduce your colon cancer risk by almost half.
COSTELLO: That's good news, because you know, it just gets so confusing, because studies come out and say the opposite of the study before, but I'm glad to hear you can still eat fiber and fight your cancer chances.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, many thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
