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Review
. 2019 Mar 4;45(1):31.
doi: 10.1186/s13052-019-0623-0.

Consensus communication strategies to improve doctor-patient relationship in paediatric severe asthma

Antonietta Cappuccio  1 ; Paediatric Sound Group; Filomena Bugliaro  2 , Silvia Maria Elena Caimmi  3 , Valeria Caldarelli  4 , Lucia Caminiti  5 , Enza D'Auria  6 , Emanuela di Palmo  7 , Marzia Duse  8 , Alessandro Giovanni Fiocchi  9 , Francesco Gesualdo  9 , Ahmad Kantar  10 , Enrico Lombardi  11 , Anna Lucania  12 , Margherita Marchiani  13 , Maria Giulia Marini  14 , Gianluigi Marseglia  3 , Maria Carmela Montera  15 , Elio Massimo Novembre  16 , Guido Pellegrini  17 , Giorgio Piacentini  18 , Alessandro Policreti  19 , Francesca Santamaria  20
Collaborators, Affiliations
Review

Consensus communication strategies to improve doctor-patient relationship in paediatric severe asthma

Antonietta Cappuccio et al. Ital J Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that is very common among youth worldwide. The burden of this illness is very high not only considering financial costs but also on emotional and social functioning. Guidelines and many researches recommend to develop a good communication between physicians and children/caregiver and their parents. Nevertheless, a previous Italian project showed some criticalities in paediatric severe asthma management. The consensus gathered together experts in paediatric asthma management, experts in narrative medicine and patient associations with the aim of identify simple recommendation to improve communication strategies.

Methods: Participants to the consensus received the results of the project and a selection of narratives two weeks before the meeting. The meeting was structured in plenary session and in three working groups discussing respectively about communication strategies with children, adolescents and parents. The task of each working group was to identify the most effective (DO) and least effective practices (DON' T) for 5 phases of the visit: welcome, comprehension of the context, emotions management, duration and end of the visit and endurance of the relationship.

Results: Participants agreed that good relationships translate into positive outcomes and reached consensus on communication strategies to implement in the different phase of relationships.

Conclusions: The future challenges identified by the participants are the dissemination of this Consensus document and the implementation of effective communication strategies to improve the management of pediatric asthma.

Keywords: Communication; Consensus; Doctor-patient relationship; Paediatric; Severe asthma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicabile.

Consent for publication

Not applicabile.

Competing interests

Alessandro Policreti is a Novartis employee. Dr. Francesca Santamaria reports receiving lecture fees from Chiesi. Dr. Marzia Duse reports receiving lecture fees from Novartis. Dr. Enrico Lombardi reports receiving honoraria /grant support/consulting fees/ lecture fees /fees for serving on advisory boards from Angelini, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Lusofarmaco, Omron, Novartis, Vifor. The other authors report no competing interest in this work.

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