Abstract

BACKGROUND
Many respiratory diseases are chronic conditions that are strongly linked with the patient-physician relationship, disease perception and therapy adherence. The aim of the present study was to evaluate patient's viewpoint about the different aspects involved in their respiratory diseases.
METHODS
This is a prospective observational survey. 46 Italian medical centres were involved and equally distributed. The interviews were carried out and were performed by means of a questionnaire which consisted of 32 questions regarding lung disease, modality of access to medical facilities, therapy and level of medical assistance.
RESULTS
1116 patients were enrolled and the most important respiratory symptoms referred were: dyspnoea (69%), chronic phlegm (28%), cough (13%). During programmed visits 98.3% and 98.8% of interviewed patients knew were aware of asthma and COPD respectively, percentage that dropped, during emergency accesses, to 1.7% and 1.1% knew to have asthma and COPD respectively. Primarily were prescribed 1.67 spirometry/patient/year while only the 2% of patients referred to have performed a blood gas analysis. The 18% of patients spontaneously discontinued the therapy, considering it too complex. The average time that patients identified as being used by the doctor to perform the visit was of 22 minutes, with an high mean medical assistance satisfaction score.
DISCUSSION
There has been little research examining what factors may influence patient acceptance and participation of chronic respiratory diseases. Our national survey demonstrated that a good patient-physician relationship represents one of the first points in the successful management of respiratory diseases.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Santus P, Picciolo S, Proietto A, Falcone F, Mangiacavallo A, Pellegrino G, Sereno F, Radovanovic D, Blasi F, Girbino G, Centanni S

Institution

Università degli Studi di Milano, Diaprtimento di Scienze della Salute, Pneumologia Riabilitativa, Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri, Istituto Scientifico di Riabilitazione di Milano IRCCS, Via Camaldoli 64, 20138 Milano, Italy. pierachille.santus@unimi.it

Source

European journal of internal medicine 23:5 2012 Jul pg 442-6

MeSH

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Female
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Italy
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Compliance
Patient Satisfaction
Physician-Patient Relations
Prospective Studies
Respiratory Tract Diseases
Young Adult

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22726373