Editorial comment on 'How do interventions design to improve provider-patient communication work? Illustrative applications of a framework for communication' and 'The State of the Science: Informing choices across the cancer journey with public health mechanisms and decision processes'.

摘要

The broad State of the Science theme From information to self-care encompassed two presentations with different focus; the first focused on patient-provider communication and the second on a public-health perspective on the cancer journey. Dr Brundage and his coworkers from Ontario, Canada were asked to take on the daunting task of summarizing and critiquing the extensive body of knowledge related to communication and patient preferences in cancer care. Rather than going through this vast and diverse literature in detail, Brundage et al. [1] dealt with this request innovatively by applying their previously developed conceptual framework of patient-provider communication to highlight both extant knowledge and remaining challenges for research and clinical application in this area. This broad framework encompasses four major features-patient and provider characteristics, with particular focus on those susceptible to change; the communication process; the goals of the communication encounter; and some aspects of the environment for the encounter. Brundage focused primarily on shared decision-making, including the use of decision-aids, but also touched upon many other aspects of patient-provider communication, using the framework as an analytic tool.