Physician-patient-parent communication problems.

The physician-patient relationship has been addressed frequently in the literature. It is well documented that a positive physician-patient relationship is influential in clinical outcome. This concept is even more complex in pediatrics (and pediatric neurosurgery) where the physician must 'relate' or 'communicate' with the entire family. Complications in physician-parent-child communication occur for a variety of reasons. Most commonly, they occur as a result of lack of communication, miscommunication and/or information overload. The intent of this paper is to discuss the pediatric neurosurgeon-parent-child communication complications and to identify strategies for their prevention.