Monica Brunson joins her 82-year-old grandmother for nearly every doctor?s visit, asking questions, taking notes and gettingcopies of medical records.
“There is so much information coming from the doctor that you can?t catch it all,” said Brunson, a senior care consultant in Baltimore who advises families on senior care and also accompanied her ill mother on visits.
Brunson is not alone. More than 38 percent of elderly patients bring a family member or caregiver into the exam room with them, and in turn say they are more satisfied with their doctors, according to a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“There is a growing realization that family caregivers are participating more and more in health care processes,” said Jennifer Wolff, a study author and assistant professor.
This study is the first large-scale look of the relationship between patients and physicians, showing how common ? and important ? these companions are.
Researchers used data from the nationwide 2004 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, which includes more than 12,000 patients age 65 and older. The accompanied patients tended to be older, sicker and less educated.
Most of the companions, often a spouse or adult child, helped by recording and explaining the physician?s instructions, providing patient information and asking questions.
The findings dispute concerns that a companion might get in the way of the patient?s decision making and relationship with the doctor.
“It raises the possibility that communication with the patient and the visit companion as a collective entity may be beneficial,” Wolff said.
If a caregiver avoids being antagonistic, doctors will be receptive to partnering with the caregiver, Brunson said.
The results are “not surprising,” said Suzanne Mintz, president of the National Family Caregivers Association.
The notion of intruding on patient autonomy is “old-fashioned,” and the complexity of medicine requires that additional support, she said.
“As more people get a deeper understanding of how health care really is provided,” Mintz said, “they recognize that having another pair of ears ? and indeed another mouth ? can really make a difference.”
