The communication of information from physician to patient: a method for increasing patient retention and satisfaction.

Patients are more satisfied with their physicians when they are given and retain more information about their illnesses. Whe an experimental group of patients was asked to restate what they had been told, followed by physician feedback, retention of the information was 83.5 percent compared to 60.8 percent in a control group in which this technique was not used. Patient satisfaction was also higher in the experimental group.