Session Programme

Parallel session

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Session PS23/room 4

Improving Patient-Provider Communication in the Context of Chronic Disease

Chair: Beat Stoll, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Johanna Sommer, Teaching and Research Unit of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland

The interaction between patient and healthcare provider is key for treatment seeking and eventually the health status of people. And yet, neither health research nor interventions in developing countries have focused much on it. Not only is an appropriate patient-provider communication a crucial cornerstone for patient adherence to treatment in the context of chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS or depressive disorders. Next to questions of availability and affordability of health services and products, people's perceptions with regard to the interaction with different providers also determines where a patient seeks treatment, i.e. with a 'modern', biomedical healthcare service, a street vendor or 'traditional' healers. In other words, patients' acceptability of healthcare services depends mainly on issues such as friendliness of staff as well as adequate explanations of diagnosis and treatment procedures. The aim of this panel is to explore main elements of an adequate patient-provider communication from an expert's and patient's point of view; discuss empirical findings on patient-provider interaction and patients' satisfaction; and examine possible interventions to strengthen provider communication skills.

Communication: Access to the Patient

Johanna Sommer, Teaching and Research Unit of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Relevance of Patient-Provider Communication for Access to Healthcare

Alexander Schulze, Manager Health Projects, Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, Switzerland

Seeking Common Ground: How Traditional Healers Interact with Patients in Rural Cameroon

Niklaus Labhardt, Swiss Tropical Institute, University of Basel, Switzerland

Who Understands Diagnosis and Treatment? Institutional Factors Prevail over Patient Characteristics

Aly Barry, Project Manager, ACCESS Initiative, Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, Mali

Interpreter-Mediated Communication in HIV/AIDS Clinics in Western Cape, South Africa

Alexandre Bischoff, PhD in Epidemiology, Division of International and Humanitarian Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland