When analyzing reviews of hospitals on Yelp, Penn Medicine researchers found that the word most associated with negative reviews, including those rated at one-star, was “told,” which appeared in almost 20 percent of the posts. Published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the study points to the value patients and their loved ones’ place on communication in health care settings.
Among the one-star reviews the researchers saw that featured “told” were frustrations about information that was ostensibly shared (“They never told me the cost of any of the procedures”), anger at a lack of listening (“I told her I did not want to discuss it any more but she persisted to badger me”) and feelings of futility (“Some idiot doctor examined me and told me there was nothing they could do for me”).
“Oftentimes, words such as ‘told’ hint at a breakdown in communication,” says Anish Agarwal, a National Clinician Scholars fellow and emergency medicine physician at Penn Medicine. “I suspect that patients are not feeling listened to or heard and this could be driving poor experiences and low reviews.”
Read more at Penn Medicine News.
