About the project
The project aims to clarify whether a 3-hour course on how to give information to patients is sufficient to change doctors' way of giving information so that patients remember more of the information they receive.
34 MS patients were recruited to meet with doctors in a communication laboratory. The patients were to receive information about the results of the medical examination and the treatments available based on the examination.
The patients knew that the situation was not real, but they were also aware that they could find themselves in a similar situation at any time.
The 17 doctors participating met one patient before they had attended the course and one patient after they had attended the course.
Time period: 2015-23
Outcomes
Three articles have been published, and the thesis was approved for PhD in May 2023. We found that the doctors changed their behavior somewhat, but not sufficiently for the patients to remember more of what was said.
Financing
Extrastiftelsen, through the MS association
Cooperation
The project was a collaboration between the Department for Health Services Research (HØKH) at Akershus University Hospital and the Department of Neurology at the same location.