Family and Friend Participation in Primary Care Visits of Patients with Diabetes or Heart Failure: Patient and Physician Determinants and Experiences

Key findings used in wiki

• In a survey of 439 patients with diabetes or heart failure and 88 of their primary care physicians, non-professional companions (family or friends) regularly attended visits for nearly half (48%) of patients.
• Patients reported they were more likely to understand physician advice (77%) and to raise difficult topics with the physician (44%) when a companion took part in the visit — direct evidence for "being heard in the room."
• Companion participation was independently associated with greater patient satisfaction with the physician (adjusted odds ratio 1.7).
• Physicians mostly viewed companions positively, but 66% saw at least one barrier: added time burden (39%), lack of training on how to work with a companion (27%), and patient privacy concerns (24%) — a reminder that clinicians may need the caregiver to explicitly state their role and the patient's consent to include them, rather than assuming it.