Patients' Opinions on Respiratory Care: Do Doctors Fulfill Their Needs?

Abstract

To date, guidelines and consensus reports on quality care for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are mainly based on research and opinions of care providers. Patients' viewpoints on good medical care have rarely been studied. We designed a postal questionnaire to study the needs of patients with asthma or COPD for medical care provided by general practitioners and lung physicians. A total of 121 patients filled out the questionnaire, which included 111 items about needs. Although generally satisfied, patients reported several unfulfilled needs. Main topics were the need for information about diagnostic tests, prognosis, and long-term use of medication. In addition, patients wanted more written information about the nature of their disease. One-third of patients wanted more participation in decisions about their treatment. These results suggest the quality of medical care for patients with asthma or COPD can be improved by adjusting provided care to needs expressed by patients.

Online Health Information Needs for Patients with Asthma in Saudi Arabia

“…The actual reasons behind the high need for more information among the majority of our participants are not clear. A similar study in the Netherlands exploring the information needs of asthma patients also concluded that participants reported several unfulfilled needs (Koning et al 1995). However, the reasons for high informational needs might be related to weakness of medical education provided to the patient at early stages of diagnosis or the ongoing education related to, for example, acute severity of the condition or deterioration caused by aging and so forth.…”

Asthma Management Failure: A Flaw in Physicians' Behavior or in Patients' Knowledge?

“…An expert panel of the Italian Society of Respiratory Medicine (SIMeR) developed a survey containing 28 multiple-choice questions on the basis of literature analysis (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). The intent of the survey was to explore the physicians' personal experiences regarding asthma management and their perceptions of asthma patients' needs.…”

Randomised feasibility study of a novel experience-based internet intervention to support self-management in chronic asthma

“…While effective management of symptoms through appropriate use of medication is vital, education and information play a significant role, with tailored information being shown to be highly effective in asthma care 45 Asthma patients report unmet information needs and are generally keen to participate in the decision-making process 6. A disconnection has been reported between patients and healthcare providers views about what patients need to know 7…”