Coaching for Doctor Visits Helpful

Asking more questions during a visit to the doctor might help patients get care that is more satisfactory, according to researchers in Wales.

A review of 33 studies found that giving patients question checklists or providing in-office coaching can help them ask more questions of their healthcare provider and get more information that is useful — often extending the length of the consultation as well.

For outcomes like satisfaction, the patient’s response is likely to cover the whole experience in the clinic — coaching and consultation — and thus the patients will feel like they got a better deal than usual as they had a nice time with the coach, lead review author Paul Kinnersley, of Cardiff University in Wales, said in a statement.

When interventions took place immediately before a doctor’s visit, they resulted in a small but significant increase in the duration of the office visit; however, interventions that occurred some time before the consultation had no effect, according to the review published in The Cochrane Library.

In general, interventions produced small increases in patient satisfaction, plus a possible reduction in patient anxiety before and after visits. Coaching had a slightly larger benefit in patient satisfaction than providing question checklists, the review said.