Most patients are too polite or scared to tell doctors when they disagree with their advice, and may simply ignore what they are told, researchers suggest.
The survey of 1340 patients found almost all would happily ask questions or discuss options when receiving treatment advice from their doctor.
However, just 14% would actually speak up if they disagreed with the recommendation, despite the majority feeling they had the capacity to do so.
Among those who would keep schtum, 47% feared that disagreeing would see them classified as a “difficult patient”, while 40% thought it might damage the relationship with their doctor.
Many thought it impolite to openly disagree, with only 14% saying this was socially acceptable.
The results of the US survey of over-40s who had seen a doctor in the past year -- published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine (online) -- were similar across all age, ethnicity, education and income groups.
The researchers said patients’ reluctance or fear of disagreeing presented a “significant barrier to shared decision making” and might lead them to ignore medical advice.
“Reluctance to express disagreement in the office may correlate with poor adherence outside the office,” they said.
Many healthcare decisions had multiple options and no one correct choice, so effective patient-physician communication was essential, they said.
Further research was now needed to test what interventions could be applied to encourage patients to be more forthcoming with their disagreements.
“This may well require attitude changes as well as behaviour change,” they said
Archives of Internal Medicine, 2012: doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.2360
Most patients are too polite or scared to tell doctors when they disagree with their advice, and may simply ignore what they are told, researchers suggest.
The survey of 1340 patients found almost all would happily ask questions or discuss options when receiving treatment advice from their doctor.
However, just 14% would actually speak up if they disagreed with the recommendation, despite the majority feeling they had the capacity to do so.
Among those who would keep schtum, 47% feared that disagreeing would see them classified as a “difficult patient”, while 40% thought it might damage the relationship with their doctor.
Many thought it impolite to openly disagree, with only 14% saying this was socially acceptable.
The results of the US survey of...