Exploration of doctor-patient communication characteristics and optimization path for gastrointestinal surgery of acute abdomen.

Background: Gastrointestinal surgical acute abdomen conditions. These conditions not only cause significant suffering to patients but also increase psychological stress for both patients and their families.

Aim: To investigate communication characteristics in gastrointestinal surgical acute abdomen cases (such as appendicitis and pancreatitis) and explore optimization pathways.

Methods: Eighty-two patients with gastrointestinal surgical acute abdomen (including appendicitis and pancreatitis) admitted to the hospital between November 2022 and June 2024 were selected. Physician-patient communication characteristics were analyzed. Patients were randomly divided into two groups (41 each) using a random draw method. The control group received conventional physician-patient communication. The observation group received an optimized communication model based on the conventional method. The two groups were compared for treatment efficacy and outcomes, psychological status, coping strategies, sleep quality, and compliance.

Results: Significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of time to ambulation and duration of hospital stay (P < 0.05), whereas hospitalization costs were not significantly different (P > 0.05). After the intervention, the psychological status scale scores in both groups decreased significantly (P < 0.05), with significant differences between the groups (P < 0.05). Following the intervention, the facing subscale scores of the medical coping questionnaire increased, while the avoidance and submission subscale scores decreased (P < 0.05), with significant differences between the groups (P < 0.05). The observation group had lower scores on the sleep quality scale (P < 0.05). The compliance rate was higher in the observation group (97.56% vs 80.49%, P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Physician-patient communication presented contradictions between professionalism and laymen's expression and rigid communication methods. Optimizing communication models can improve sleep quality, coping strategies, patient compliance, and treatment outcomes and reduce negative emotions.