Communication Skills Training for Physicians Improves Health Literacy and Medical Outcomes among Patients with Hypertension: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Improving the training of physicians about communication skills and patient health literacy (HL) is a major priority that remains an open question. We aimed to examine the effectiveness of communication skills training for physicians on the hypertension outcomes and the health literacy skills, self-efficacy and medication adherence in patients with uncontrolled blood pressure (BP). Methods: A randomized, controlled trial method was conducted on 240 hypertensive patients and 35 physicians presenting to healthcare clinics in the Mashhad, Iran, from 2013 to 2014. Using stratified blocking with block sizes of 4 and 6, eligible patients with uncontrolled blood pressure were randomly allocated to the intervention and control groups. Physicians in the intervention group received educational training over 3 sessions of Focus –Group Discussion and 2 workshops. The control group received the routine care. The primary outcome was a reduction in systolic and diastolic BP from baseline to 6 months. The secondary outcome was promoting HL skills in hypertensive patients. Data were analyzed using the regression model and bivariate tests. Results: After the physician communication training, there was a significant improvement in physicians-patient communication skills, hypertension outcomes, medication adherence, and self-efficacy among the patients being managed by the physicians receiving training, compared to the control group. Conclusion: The educational intervention leads to better BP control; it may have been sufficient training of physicians change to impact counseling, HL and self-efficacy and adherence. The quality of physician-patient communication is an important modifiable element of medical communication that may influences health outcomes in hypertensive Iranian patients. Trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT), IRCT20160710028863N24. Registered April 4, 2018 [retrospectively registered].

Therapeutic Communication in Clinical Practice

“…They are also used in patient education to improve health outcomes. The obtained data also correspond with other studies that confirm that effective communication with the patient is extremely important in medicine in the provision of health care [8,9,10].…”

“…Various authors study the conversation with the patient as an essential part of the medical specialist's activity. The data shows that healthcare professionals have a different approach when conducting a conversation with the patient, giving importance to different features [4,7,8,17,18,19,20]:…”

“…The development of empathic skills is an important priority in the education of healthcare students and should be supported. Acquiring TC knowledge and skills improves students' personal and social skills and enables more effective communication with patients [3,8,21,22].…”

Exploring health literacy in patients with chronic diseases in Chongqing, China: a cross-sectional study

“…Thus far, there is a growing body of research assessing health literacy in patients with chronic disease, including a number of systematic reviews. [22][23][24] However, there are few effective measures for the level and factors of health literacy among patients with chronic diseases. Accordingly, the present study aimed to explore the different aspects and influencing factors of health literacy among patients with chronic diseases in Chongqing, China.…”

“…Thus far, there is a growing body of research assessing health literacy in patients with chronic disease, including a number of systematic reviews 22–24. However, there are few effective measures for the level and factors of health literacy among patients with chronic diseases.…”