Physician-patient interaction and hysterectomy decision making: the ENDOW study. Ethnicity, Needs, and Decisions of Women.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate physician-patient communication in the context of hysterectomy decision making.

METHODS: A series of 17 focus groups with African American and white women (n=82) between the ages of 30 and 65 were run. Personal interviews with physicians (n=7) also were conducted. Transcripts were analyzed using NUD*IST software and note-based techniques.

RESULTS: For both patients and physicians, the optimal physician-patient interaction would be for the physician to provide plain, usable information to the patient allowing the patient to make the hysterectomy decision.

CONCLUSIONS: The current state of physician-patient interaction represents collaboration but not a shared approach approximating the deliberative model.