Patients often feel like they're not getting as much information as they should from their doctors. Researchers in Iowa interviewed hepatitis C patients about their relationships with physicians.

What the researchers wanted to know: Do people with hepatitis C have problems communicating with their doctors?

What they did: Three hundred twenty-two hepatitis C patients over 18 were interviewed before a doctors' appointment. An interviewer asked each patient about their health and how they felt about it, and about their interactions with their doctors—such as, "Do you feel that you can ask your doctor or nurse any question?" There were follow-up questions to find out more about negative experiences with doctors.

What they found: More than one third of patients said they had problems interacting with their physicians. A little under a quarter said they'd had an incompetent physician, for example, doctors who didn't know how to diagnose or treat hepatitis C. About 10 percent said they'd felt stigmatized by their physicians—usually, that they were suspected of being promiscuous or abusing drugs. People with emotional or social problems were more likely to say they had trouble with their doctors.

What it means to you: Physicians, the researchers say, should learn more about communicating with hepatitis C patients. Many of the results were close to what other studies had found about communication between doctors and patients, so this probably isn't true just for hepatitis C patients.

Caveats: The study looked only at the patients' side. The interview called on patients to remember past interactions. And the study was at a specialized clinic at a teaching hospital—the results might not hold at other kinds of clinics.

Find out more: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality offers some tips for patients when talking to a doctor.

Read the article: Zickmund, S. et al. "Hepatitis C Virus-Infected Patients Report Communication Problems With Physicians." Hepatology. April 2004, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 999-1007.