Results of thematic analysis
| Patient information concerns | Illustrative quotations from interview transcripts | Identified functions of audiotape | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patients without access to tape | Patients with access to tape | ||
| Difficulty taking in information or fear of missing information | “As somebody explains to you ‘this is a life threatening procedure’…you start to go in your mind very fast, and you’re not listening to what the guy’s saying to you…” (Pt T) | “You’re trying to take everything in…but there could be one thing, you know, that you’ve missed. So it was nice to have the tape…” (Pt L) | Fills gaps, enables patients to take in information as and when ready |
| Understanding information, including risk information | “Some of the things he said I didn’t fully understand… He said something about ‘you could have a heart attack or you could have a stroke’. Now I didn’t quite know whether he meant if I didn’t have the operation I could have a heart attack or stroke – or I could have a heart attack or stroke having the operation… He wasn’t very clear.” (Pt A) | “He explained the types of risks and fatalities he had, you know, percentages, and such things… Talking about it straight away through the interview, I was a bit up and down my understanding level, but when I got home and put the tape on I got more understanding from it, which made me a bit more comfortable...” (Pt P) | Enables patient to revisit and process information and clarifies whether further information required |
| Difficulty with recall of “one off” consultation | “I can’t remember half of what he said. If I’d got a tape I’d be clearer in my mind” (Pt D) “That’s the way I think it happened…he might not have said it that way at all. A tape would put your mind at rest” (Pt M) | “When we got home you’d be thinking, oh, what did he say about warfarin?… I can always put the tape on and listen again” (Pt L) “All I listened for, to see if it was exactly the same as it were put over” (Pt S) | Enables patient to “re-hear” consultation, provides an exact record of the two way dialogue that can be revisited over time |
| Difficulty with recall of two way dialogue | “Disappointed not to get a recording because after a couple of weeks you’ve forgotten everything you said and that he said” (Pt I) | “I listened to it just to know what I had said and what Mr (GC) had said to me. As I’m getting older I’m getting more forgetful” (Pt F) | |
| Communicating to others | “It’s hard when you come home, ‘What’s he said?’ and you can’t remember…” (Pt Q) | “The tapes are very handy for me to let my wife know…what I might have said wasn’t what really happened, so she now knows what really happened at the interview” (Pt R) | Exact record can be shared with family, friends and others |