Asking patients to write lists

BMJ 1995;311:746 (16 September)

Letters

Asking patients to write lists

Randomised controlled trials support it

EDITOR,--Despite increasing evidence supporting the relationbetween effective clinician--patient communication and improvementin patients' health, communication problems in clinical encountersare still extremely common.¹

Strategies to improve communication between patients and clinicianscan target history taking or the discussion of the managementplan, or both. They can be simple and cheap or require expensivetechnology. John F Middleton found he could ask his own patientsto write lists of their concerns and that it led to consultationswhich were perceived as more efficient.² Given that the studywas nonrandomised and unmasked and was conducted only on hisown patients, he called for randomised studies with larger size,including more than one doctor, and designed to measure patient'sand doctor's satisfaction, patients' compliance, and subsequentconsultation rates.