Search

Background: Surgery is a key modality in the treatment of breast cancer. The patient-physician interaction is a key determinant of a range of outcomes, but there is little work examining the surgeon-breast cancer patient interaction. We analyzed data from 240 women with a new breast cancer diagnosis to better understand this interaction and to delineate the patient, surgeon, and surgeon-patient interaction-level characteristics affecting this interaction., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Los Angeles County of 240 women with a new breast cancer diagnosis aged>or=55 years. Women were asked to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 how helpful overall the way their surgeon discussed their breast cancer with them was. Logistic regression models were constructed to assess the relationship of patient, surgeon, and surgeon-patient interaction characteristics to the outcome variable., Results: Forty-four percent of women said that they found the way their surgeon discussed their breast cancer with them extremely helpful. Women with a higher level of perceived self-efficacy, a longer consultation time with the surgeon, a higher interactive information-giving score, and a higher participatory decision-making score had significantly higher odds of reporting the discussion to be "extremely helpful.", Conclusions: Our results indicate that strategies to improve the patient's perceived self-efficacy (preparing questions beforehand, practicing, watching a role model, and so on) will improve the surgeon-patient discussion. At a systems level, adequate time should be budgeted for the consultation, and we must ensure that adequate communication skills are imparted to surgeons during their educational training.

Pregnant women were examined for chlamydia trachomatis-infection on a routine basis during a multicentric study in Vienna. Samples were taken from the cervix and fornix between the 30th and 34th week pregnancy. FTIC-conjugated monoclonal antibodies and immunofluorescence techniques were used to verify chlamydia trachomatis. Out of 1238 pregnant women, 101 (8.16%) were positive for chlamydia trachomatis. Since chlamydia infections can result in severe local or generalized complications and also spread to the newborn baby, screening investigations should be regularly performed during pregnancy and, if indicated, adequate treatment undertaken.