Typical questions for doctors
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Typical Questions for Doctors: Insights from Research
Introduction to Doctor-Patient Questioning
Doctor-patient interactions are fundamental to effective healthcare delivery. The types of questions doctors ask can significantly influence the quality of information gathered and the subsequent patient care. This article synthesizes research findings on the typical questions doctors ask, the challenges they face in obtaining answers, and the impact of these questions on patient satisfaction and care.
Common Types of Questions Asked by Doctors
General Inquiries and Confirmatory Questions
Research indicates that doctors frequently use two main types of questions to solicit patients' problems: general inquiries and confirmatory questions. General inquiries, such as "What can I do for you today?" are the most common, accounting for 62% of the questions asked. These questions tend to elicit longer and more detailed responses from patients, including a broader range of symptoms1. Confirmatory questions, like "I understand you're having some sinus problems today?" are used 27% of the time and are more prevalent in urban settings1.
Specific Clinical Questions
Family doctors often ask questions related to drug prescribing, obstetrics and gynecology, and adult infectious diseases. The most common types of questions include "What is the cause of symptom X?", "What is the dose of drug X?", and "How should I manage disease or finding X?"2. These questions reflect the immediate clinical needs and the necessity for precise information to guide patient care.
Unanswered Questions and Challenges
Despite the frequency of questions, many remain unanswered. In one study, 41% of pursued questions were not answered, with common unanswered questions including those about undiagnosed findings, conditional scenarios, and specific associations between symptoms and conditions3. The obstacles to answering these questions include the excessive time required to find information, difficulty in formulating precise questions, and the inadequacy of available resources7 10.
Impact of Question Types on Patient Satisfaction
Opening Questions and Patient Satisfaction
The format of physicians' opening questions can significantly impact patient satisfaction. General inquiries are associated with higher patient satisfaction regarding the physician's listening skills and affective-relational communication. Patients prefer to present their concerns in their own words and time, which is facilitated by open-ended questions9.
Medication-Related Questions
Physicians also frequently ask about medications, especially for patients with chronic diseases. On average, doctors ask 9.3 questions about medications per visit, with more questions directed at non-white, lower-income patients, and those on multiple medications. Interestingly, nearly half of the patients do not ask any questions about their medications, highlighting a potential area for improving patient engagement and compliance8.
Strategies for Improving Questioning and Information Retrieval
Enhancing Clinical Information Resources
To address the challenges in answering clinical questions, physicians suggest several improvements to clinical information resources. These include creating comprehensive resources that provide clear, concise, and actionable information, using lists, tables, and algorithms to facilitate quick information retrieval, and ensuring that resources cover commonly encountered clinical scenarios10.
Encouraging Patient Participation
Doctors recognize the importance of patient participation in their own healthcare. Tools like Question Prompt Lists (QPLs) can help patients prepare for consultations and ensure their concerns are addressed. While doctors generally support the use of QPLs, they emphasize the need for these tools to be succinct and well-integrated into the consultation workflow to be effective6.
Conclusion
Effective doctor-patient communication is crucial for accurate diagnosis and treatment. The types of questions doctors ask, and their ability to find answers, play a significant role in patient care. By understanding the common questions, challenges, and strategies for improvement, healthcare providers can enhance the quality of interactions and patient outcomes.
Sources and full results
Most relevant research papers on this topic
The Structure of Patients' Presenting Concerns: Physicians' Opening Questions
General inquiries from physicians lead to longer and more discrete problem presentations, while confirmatory questions are more likely in urban settings.
Observational Study
Highly CitedAnalysis of questions asked by family doctors regarding patient care
Family doctors frequently have patient care questions, but often don't pursue answers, and the most common generic questions are "What is the cause of symptom X?", "What is the dose of drug X?", and "How should I manage disease or finding X?"
Observational StudyHighly CitedResearch Paper: Patient-Care Questions that Physicians Are Unable to Answer
Physicians should rephrase their questions and search clinically oriented resources to improve the chance of finding answers to unanswered clinical questions.
Observational StudyAn Overview of the Classification of Doctors’ Questioning in Doctor-Patient Conversations
Doctors' questioning in doctor-patient conversations can be classified into four main categories: conversational process, medical question, psychological question, linguistic marker, content, and function.
Doctors' questions as displays of understanding.
Doctors use different question types to display understanding in medical interactions, with declarative questions often leading to psychological aspects of the illness, but patients often return to symptoms and biomedical accounts.
Observational StudyDoctors’ Attitudes to Patient Question Asking, Patient-Generated Question Lists, and Question Prompt Lists: A Qualitative Study
Doctors expect patients to ask questions and endorse the benefits of question prompt lists, but diverse views exist on their feasibility in practice.
Observational StudyObstacles to answering doctors' questions about patient care with evidence: qualitative study
Six key obstacles were identified in attempting to answer doctors' questions about patient care with evidence, highlighting the need for improved clinically oriented information resources.
Observational StudyHighly CitedAsking questions about medication: analysis of physician-patient interactions and physician perceptions.
Improving physicians' and patients' question-asking about medications in primary care settings can help detect potential problems and improve patient compliance.
Observational StudyHighly CitedPhysicians' opening questions and patients' satisfaction.
Physicians' opening questions should be open-ended, allowing patients to express concerns in their own time and terms, improving their evaluation of listening and affective-relational communication.
Observational StudyHighly CitedResearch Paper: Answering Physicians' Clinical Questions: Obstacles and Potential Solutions
Physicians often don't seek answers to their patient-care questions due to lack of usable information, and when they do, they often can't find the information they need.
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