Provider--Patient Communication Among Elderly and Nonelderly Patients in Canadian Hospitals: A National Survey

We compared provider-patient communication problems experienced by elderly (65 years of age or older) and nonelderly (less than 65 years of age) adult medical and surgical patients discharged home from Canadian acute care hospitals. Four thousand five hundred ninety nine patients from a stratified random sample of 57 public, acute-care Canadian hospitals in six provinces who were telephone interviewed in 1991-1992 using a structured questionnaire. The number and types of provider-patient communication problems reported most frequently were similar for both age groups. The communication problems reported most frequently by older patients related to hospital routines, expected pain from tests, medication side effects, and several discharge planning issues. Patient demographic, hospital stay, and hospital characteristics accounted for less than 13% of the variation in number of provider-patient communication problems for both age groups. Patient reports can provide important information for quality improvement activities by identifying specific care processes that appear problematic from the patient's perspective, the magnitude of these problems, and the specific subgroups most at risk.