Neurologist–patient communication about epilepsy in the United States, Spain, and Germany

Abstract

Background Effective communication between patients and their health care providers is recognized as critically important to improve the quality of health services for individuals with epilepsy. We aimed to describe in-office neurologist–patient conversations about epilepsy and focus on disease identification, shared decision-making, and care planning. Methods Transcripts and audio recordings of conversations between patients and neurologists in the United States, Spain, and Germany were analyzed linguistically in the topic areas of epilepsy identification and diagnosis, disease education, treatments, and care planning. Analyses included word-level assessments, topic switching, strategies of..