Racial Differences in How Patients Perceive Physician Communication Regarding Cardiac Testing

Although there were no apparent differences by race in patients’ perception of the information they received, black patients consistently expressed a preference for building a relationship with physicians before agreeing to an invasive cardiac procedure, and just as consistently complained that trust was lacking.

Abstract

This study provided qualitative information regarding patients' perceptions of physician-patient communication and racial differences in such perceptions. For both black and white patients, we found problematic aspects of the patients' experiences regarding communication about cardiac testing. Our findings suggest that although patients desire clarity from physicians, they are often confused regarding the information received. Both a lack of substance and vagueness of the information received may be linked to feelings of mistrust toward physicians when considering further diagnostic testing. Mistrust may be a source of some of the documented racial variation in health care utilization.