WASHINGTON — Primary care physicians who have struggled to get a cardiovascular disease patient to adhere to a drug regimen may find practical advice in an online educational program aimed at improving physician/patient communication.
What doctors see as patient noncompliance may actually be the doctor's inability to effectively communicate, especially across cultural barriers, said Dr. Richard H. Carmona, chair of the advisory board for the Time to Talk CARDIO program. He was U.S. Surgeon General in 2002–2006 and is now president of the Canyon Ranch Institute in Tucson, Ariz.
On the program's Web site, physicians answer questions about communication with their most vexing patient. Based on their replies, the program identifies six communication skills that the individual physician needs to work on, along with a selection of video vignettes that demonstrate best practices for each specific skill.
The program is being tested at several sites across the United States, and a national rollout is planned for February 2010, according to a written statement.
The Web site provides a worksheet for patients and providers to set goals, which has motivated patients to become more involved in improving their heart health, said Dr. Jason Dees, a family physician in New Albany, Miss. “This is not a big, time-consuming training tool,” Dr. Dees added.
To learn more about the Time to Talk CARDIO program, go to www.timetotalkcardio.com
Time to Talk CARDIO is supported in part by Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, and it was developed in partnership with the American Academy of Family Physicians, Canyon Ranch Institute, and RIASWorks, a company that supports the development of medical communication tools.