Ethnicity and physician-older patient communication about alternative therapies.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to describe ethnic differences in physician-patient communication about alternative therapies, using a data set comprised of audiotapes and transcripts of primary care medical visits.


METHODS
The data set was collected during 1995 at the family practice and general medicine clinics at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM. Twenty-seven (27) resident physicians and 205 of their Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients age 50 and over participated.


RESULTS
Almost 18 percent of patients reported using one or more alternative therapies during the preceding month. Herbal medicine was the most widely used therapy. Eighty-three percent (83%) of patients who reported using an alternative therapy in the previous month did not tell their physicians. Physicians asked one or more questions about alternative therapies during only 3.4% of encounters. Only 2% of patients asked their physicians one or more questions about alternative therapies. There were no ethnic differences in physician-older patient communication about alternative therapies.


CONCLUSIONS
Physician-patient communication could be improved to enhance physician understanding of the spectrum of interventions patients pursue to improve their health.
Sleath
B
B
Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, School of Pharmacy, and Institute on Aging, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599-7590, USA. betsy_sleath@unc.edu
Rubin
R H
RH
Campbell
W
W
Gwyther
L
L
Clark
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003142:Communication; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009516:New Mexico; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires