Information needs in patients with chronic diseases. How to avoid noise in the doctor-patient relationship?

In terms of healthcare, information adequate to the patient's needs usually contributes to a better relationship with health personnel, since both actors can share knowledge and improve their communication. In this research, we conducted a qualitative phenomenological study, analyzing the content of subjective experiences explained by chronic patients recently hospitalized in the city of Vic (Barcelona). Our aim was identifying, from the patient's perspective, what messages and topics were the most important for them in terms of information and in which way they preferred to receive them in order to avoid noise. To do this, we developed a couple of focus groups with patients and their relatives and 15 in-depth interviews with patients admitted to the hospital. Results show that patients evidence their predilection for easily understandable and preferably written information, while at the level of noise and communication problems, patients criticized an excess of communication exclusively oral and insufficient by doctors, something that often generates stress and makes them feel closer to nurses, who are more accessible and communicative. The results also point to the commitment to the co-creation of information between health professionals and the patients themselves to improve future relationships.