Disease terminology: Communication gap between pulmonologists and patients

Abstract

Background: Varied local dialects and languages are spoken throughout the world and a single disease may be addressed by a number of names. This leads to doctor-patient communication gap. However, magnitude of the problem in unknown.

Aims: The aim of the study was to find whether the doctor communicates the correct name of respiratory disease to the patient and whether the respiratory patients know the name of their disease.

Methods: Parallel cross-sectional surveys were conducted amongst pulmonologists and patients. In the first part of the study, 1028 pulmonologists from across India who attended the National conference of pulmonary diseases(NAPCON) 2015 filled in the online survey. The survey included question pertinent to the terminology used to address common respiratory diseases. In second part of the study, questionnaires were given to 717 respiratory disease patients attending outpatient clinic at Asthma Bhawan, Jaipur.

Results: Amongst the 1028 pulmonologists the correct terminology was used by: 898(87.4%) for Pneumonia, 708(69%) for tuberculosis, 171(16.6%) for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis(IPF), 731(71.1%) for Asthma, and 593(57.7%) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). However out of 717 patients only 21.5% could correctly name their disease(33.5% patients of asthma, 46% of tuberculosis, 6.4% of IPF and none of COPD).

Conclusions: In this first respiratory disease survey with regards to the disease terminology we found that though the exact terminology is used by 63.6% of doctors yet most of patients remained ignorant about name of the disease. The study identifies an important gap in patient doctor communication and highlights the need of effective patient education.