DO's and MD's have different communication styles

[drusso]

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CHICAGO, July 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A recently published study indicates that osteopathic physicians (D.O.s) and allopathic physicians (M.D.s) have different communication styles when it comes to talking to their patients. Timothy S. Carey, M.D., the study's lead author and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine explains, "D.O.s seem to have a communication style with patients that is more personal, as issues relating to family, social activities, and patient emotions appear to be more commonly discussed during office visits." Dr. Carey states that this work represents the first time patient communication patterns have been evaluated between these similar, but distinct, medical professions.

Fifty-four patient visits were audio-recorded to 11 osteopathic and seven allopathic primary care physicians. Researchers compared the physicians' interaction with the patients on a 26-item index. D.O.s had an average of 11 positive responses compared to an average of 6.9 for M.D.s. The items included that the physician discusses preventive measures specific to the complaint; explains the cause of problem or reasoning behind treatment; and asks, "Do you have any questions?"

The study appears in the July issue of JAOA-The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.

 

[Doc Ivy]

did the discussion of the paper speculate on any specific differences in the training of DOs vs MDs that would explain the number of positive utterances in a given patient encounter?

 

[Street Philosopher]

ok.

 

[Ca$h MaNi]

I personally have seen this to be the case...I'm sure we can't generalize too much...as I am sure there are MD's who talk at depth with the patients on a more personal level(and we're not just talking about the psychiatrists)....but I've observed my aunt(MD) verses my family physician(DO)..and the patient's history is more in-depth and detailed with my family doc....that may be more of a personal style with practice or it may be what is taught at DO schools versus MD schools. I dont think its right to generalize...but at the same time...on all my interviews at DO schools...this is one thing they mentioned when doing simulated, standardized patient exams...on the average we spend more time with the patient and asked a more detailed history in regards to emotions, and the entire bio-pscyhosocial model.

I wish to hear a response from WatchingWaiting to see what he thinks of this article....

Thanks for the article drusso!

Mani

 

[PublicHealth]

Anyone have access to the original article? If so, can you post the link or text?

Thank you, drusso!

 

[beastmaster]

54 visits to 18 physicians -- what a sample size. This study is a joke.

The results could have been easily flipped by simple chance like the flip of a coin.

 

[group_theory]

While the sample size may be small - this is how most clinical (if you can call it that) trial starts when it has never been done before.

Several reasons for this:
1. Good luck trying to get enough funding to have a large sample size (and the additional manpower to go w/ it) when your trial has never been done before.

2. With an initial smaller sample size - you can quickly detect and correct any flaws in your study (biased questioning, biased populatons, not enough time allocated for each post-interview followup, etc)

3. If the results of the trial is interesting and warrants further study, future studies can be designed w/ a larger population in mind. This happens frequently in clinical research. Testing how new therapy frequenly involves an initial small sample. If the results show promise - it can be expanded. If it doesn't, only a small group is affected.

4. A larger sample size is needed to rule out regional bias (or medical school bias). However, to immediately suggest that the study is a joke based soley on the sample size is flawed. You have to read the study - to see the types of questions being asked and the methodolgy used to determine if the study is fatally flawed. If you go by sample size alone - there are frequent clinical studies that get publish where the sample size is smaller. However, most note that a larger followup study is needed to determine if their results are valid.

I haven't read the study yet. I don't know if there is a fundamental flaw in the study design. However, given the interesting finding - it would be nice to do a followup larger study (perhaps in different regions of the country) to see if this really is a general trend.

 

[do2md]

Originally posted by drusso
"D.O.s seem to have a communication style with patients that is more personal, as issues relating to family, social activities, and patient emotions appear to be more commonly discussed during office visits."

What else would the DO's discuss? Their vast knowledge of mechanisms of diseases? The best treatment for their patient? Their latest scientific research? wahahahahaha...... I'd be talking about the town ice cream social too if I was a DO because I wouldn't have the capacity to discuss much of anything else.

 

[Ca$h MaNi]

being a D.O....I would have just enough capacity to discuss the drawbacks of inbred pre-meds like do2md..and their role in being an embarrassment to medicine globally...but thats just because I BARELY have the capacity to think and breath at the same time obviously....

oops...time to breathe again...my bad

 

[Su4n2]

drusso,
is there a way to get the article for free online? i would like to read the discussion, methodologies, etc. thanx!

 

[drusso]

bump.

 

[zinjanthropus]

the sample size in this study is inexcusably low

there are really not that many hurdles to audio-recording and analyzing a significantly greater number of doctor visits.

as someone said previously, these results are not suprisingly different from 54 random visits.

also, if you picked 18 MD docs, you might expect this much variation among just that sample...same with 18 DO docs....


double the number of docs in each sample group and quadruple the number of visits and then you have an okay sample size

 

[kpax18]

please post the link, thanks

 

[Doc Ivy]

Could someone at least post a p value, that way we'd know how likely this type of variation could occur by chance.