Maybury Catherine, Horowitz Alice M, Wang Min Qi, Kleinman Dushanka V
Ms. Maybury is a faculty research assistant, Herschel S. Horowitz Center for Health Literacy, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, 2367 School of Public Health Building, College Park, Md. 20742,
J Am Dent Assoc. 2013 Dec;144(12):1386-96. doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.2013.0075.
Health care providers' use of recommended communication techniques can increase patients' adherence to prevention and treatment regimens and improve patient health outcomes. The authors conducted a survey of Maryland dentists to determine the number and type of communication techniques they use on a routine basis.
The authors mailed a 30-item questionnaire to a random sample of 1,393 general practice dentists and all 169 members of the Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. The overall response rate was 38.4 percent. Analysis included descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and ordinary least squares regression analysis to examine the association of dentists' characteristics with the number of communication techniques used. They set the significance level at P < .05.
General dentists reported routinely using a mean of 7.9 of the 18 communication techniques and 3.6 of the seven basic techniques, whereas pediatric dentists reported using a mean of 8.4 and 3.8 of those techniques, respectively. General dentists who had taken a communication course outside of dental school were more likely than those who had not to use the 18 techniques (P < .01) but not the seven basic techniques (P < .05). Pediatric dentists who had taken a communication course outside of dental school were more likely than those who had not to use the 18 techniques (P < .05) and the seven basic techniques (P < .01).
The number of communication techniques that dentists used routinely varied across the 18 techniques and was low for most techniques. Practical Implications. Professional education is needed both in dental school curricula and continuing education courses to increase use of recommended communication techniques. Specifically, dentists and their team members should consider taking communication skills courses and conducting an overall evaluation of their practices for user friendliness.
医疗保健提供者使用推荐的沟通技巧可提高患者对预防和治疗方案的依从性，并改善患者的健康结局。作者对马里兰州的牙医进行了一项调查，以确定他们日常使用的沟通技巧的数量和类型。
作者向1393名全科牙医的随机样本以及美国儿科学会马里兰州分会的所有169名成员邮寄了一份包含30个条目的问卷。总体回复率为38.4%。分析包括描述性统计、方差分析和普通最小二乘回归分析，以检验牙医的特征与所使用沟通技巧数量之间的关联。他们将显著性水平设定为P < .05。
普通牙医报告称，他们日常平均使用18种沟通技巧中的7.9种以及7种基本技巧中的3.6种，而儿科牙医报告分别使用这些技巧中的8.4种和3.8种。在牙科学院之外参加过沟通课程的普通牙医比未参加过的更有可能使用这18种技巧（P < .01），但在使用7种基本技巧方面差异不显著（P < .05）。在牙科学院之外参加过沟通课程的儿科牙医比未参加过的更有可能使用这18种技巧（P < .05）和7种基本技巧（P < .01）。
牙医日常使用的沟通技巧数量在这18种技巧中各不相同，且大多数技巧的使用频率较低。实际意义。牙科学院课程和继续教育课程都需要进行专业教育，以增加推荐沟通技巧的使用。具体而言，牙医及其团队成员应考虑参加沟通技巧课程，并对其诊疗操作的用户友好性进行全面评估。
