Computer analysis system of the physician-patient consultation process

Kimiko Katsuyama; Yuichi Koyama; Yasushi Hirano; Kenji Mase; Ken Kato; Satoshi Mizuno; Kazunobu Yamauchi

doi:10.1108/09526861011037443

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International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance

ISSN: 0952-6862

Online from: 1988

Subject Area: Health Care Management/Healthcare

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Computer analysis system of the physician-patient consultation process

Document Information:
Title:	Computer analysis system of the physician-patient consultation process
Author(s):	Kimiko Katsuyama, (Department Nursing Administration, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan and Department of Medical Information and Management Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan), Yuichi Koyama, (Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan), Yasushi Hirano, (Department of Information Technology Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan), Kenji Mase, (Department of Information Technology Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan), Ken Kato, (Aichi Medical Association Research Institute, Nagoya, Japan and Department of Medical Information and Management Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan), Satoshi Mizuno, (Department of Fundamental of Nursing, Japanese Red Cross Toyota College of Nursing, Toyota City, Japan), Kazunobu Yamauchi, (Faculty of Medical Management and Information Science, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan and Department of Medical Information and Management Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan)
Citation:	Kimiko Katsuyama, Yuichi Koyama, Yasushi Hirano, Kenji Mase, Ken Kato, Satoshi Mizuno, Kazunobu Yamauchi, (2010) "Computer analysis system of the physician-patient consultation process", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 23 Iss: 4, pp.378 - 399
Keywords:	Communication processes, Computer software, Doctors, Patients, Quality management
Article type:	Research paper
DOI:	10.1108/09526861011037443 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Acknowledgements:	Part of this study was conducted for “Cognitive Integration of Audio Images for a Social Information Foundation” a twenty-first century COE Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The authors are grateful to Dr Nobutaro Ban for his helpful suggestions and comments.
Abstract:	Purpose – Measurements of the quality of physician-patient communication are important in assessing patient outcomes, but the quality of communication is difficult to quantify. The aim of this paper is to develop a computer analysis system for the physician-patient consultation process (CASC), which will use a quantitative method to quantify and analyze communication exchanges between physicians and patients during the consultation process. Design/methodology/approach – CASC is based on the concept of narrative-based medicine using a computer-mediated communication (CMC) technique from a cognitive dialog processing system. Effective and ineffective consultation samples from the works of Saito and Kleinman were tested with CASC in order to establish the validity of CASC for use in clinical practice. After validity was confirmed, three researchers compared their assessments of consultation processes in a physician's office with CASCs. Consultations of 56 migraine patients were recorded with permission, and for this study consultations of 29 patients that included more than 50 words were used. Findings – Transcribed data from the 29 consultations input into CASC resulted in two diagrams of concept structure and concept space to assess the quality of consultation. The concordance rate between the assessments by CASC and the researchers was 75 percent. Originality/value – In this study, a computer-based communication analysis system was established that efficiently quantifies the quality of the physician-patient consultation process. The system is promising as an effective tool for evaluating the quality of physician-patient communication in clinical and educational settings.