Oakes J Michael, Whitham Hilary K, Spaulding Alicen Burns, Zentner Lynn A, Beccard Seth R
Minn Med. 2015 Jan;98(1):38-41.
Disclosure is often proposed as a strategy for handling financial conflicts of interest in medicine. Yet there has been no guidance on how clinicians should disclose potential conflicts of interest to patients. To discern patients' attitudes toward conflicts of interest in medicine and their opinions about how physicians should disclose possible conflicts in the clinical setting, we conducted six focus groups with patients recruited from three clinics in the Twin Cities area. Investigators reviewed audio recordings of the focus group discussions independently and identified themes. Maintaining patient-doctor trust was critical to all study participants. Most wanted to know only about conflicts of interest that were directly relevant to their care. In addition, most participants said physicians and other health care providers should offer patients an easy-to-read document about any conflict of interest during clinic check-ins and bring up the subject when discussing specific treatment plans for which the conflict of interest is relevant. Our study offers the first insights into patient attitudes toward and opinions about disclosure practices in clinical settings. More research into the practical aspects of managing conflicts of interest is needed as ineffective disclosure may undermine patients' trust in their doctors.
信息披露常常被提议作为处理医学领域财务利益冲突的一种策略。然而，对于临床医生应如何向患者披露潜在的利益冲突，却没有相关指导。为了了解患者对医学领域利益冲突的态度以及他们对医生在临床环境中应如何披露可能的利益冲突的看法，我们对从双子城地区三家诊所招募的患者进行了六个焦点小组访谈。研究人员独立审查了焦点小组讨论的录音并确定了主题。对所有研究参与者来说，维持医患信任至关重要。大多数人只想了解与他们的治疗直接相关的利益冲突。此外，大多数参与者表示，医生和其他医疗服务提供者应在诊所登记时为患者提供一份易于阅读的关于任何利益冲突的文件，并在讨论利益冲突相关的具体治疗方案时提及这一话题。我们的研究首次深入了解了患者对临床环境中信息披露做法的态度和看法。由于无效的信息披露可能会破坏患者对医生的信任，因此需要对管理利益冲突的实际方面进行更多研究。
