When a doctor breaks the news about a breast cancer diagnosis, the next clinical step is what can determine how well a patient complies with plans for her medical care.
Psychosocial support, proper educational materials and the time to ask key questions are the factors that most shape perceptions about patient satisfaction, according to results
from a recent Kaiser Permanente study.
The health plan partnered with the Women's Information Network Against Breast Cancer (WIN ABC) to create the Breast Buddy Breast Care Program in 1994. In the program's first
study of 388 women since its inception, researchers found that 71% of the women surveyed said they were "very satisfied" with their breast cancer care. By contrast, 56% of women
in the control group said they were "very satisfied."
The Breast Buddy program uses a breast care coordinator and a mentor who is a breast cancer survivor for each patient. The study is published in the July/August issue of the
Effective Clinical Practice journal.
(WIN ABC, Betsy Mullen, 626/332-2255, http://winabc.org)