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One of the groups most negatively affected by the epidemic process has been the elderly patients. In this process, it is of great importance to determine the fear levels of the patients and to evaluate the factors that may be related. With this approach, this study aimed to examine the relationship between the fear of COVID-19 and health literacy scores of elderly patients living in Kahramanmaraş City, Turkey. Another aim of the study was to investigate whether the participants’ COVID-19 fear change according to various socio-demographic characteristics. The convenience sampling method were used and 266 of valid samples were collected. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, simple and multiple linear regression analysis techniques were used. The results obtained from the study showed that COVID-19 fear status of the participants were moderate while the health literacy scores were low. Higher health literacy was associated with lower fear of COVID-19. In addition, it was determined that the fear of COVID-19 showed statistically significant differences according to education level, insurance status, smoking status, follow the news status and marital status. As a result, it has been observed that the level of health literacy can be effective in protecting elderly patients from fear. Longitudinal studies have been proposed to determine whether this relationship is causal or not.

Today, the increase in the use of emergency health services is one of the most discussed issues. Solutions are sought to reduce the use of unnecessary resources. One of these solutions can be patient–physician communication. Along with this approach, the relationships between patient–physician communication, use of emergency health services, and length of hospital stay was evaluated in this study. In addition, the effect of communication with the physician on the patient activity level was also examined. A total of 724 patients (F/M 397/327, mean age 33.36 ± 15.22 years) were included in this cross-sectional study. “Pearson Correlation Test” and “Simple Linear Regression Test” were used to analyze the data. High communication between physician and patient were associated with higher levels of patient activation ( r = 0.632; P < .01). Likewise, a negative correlation was found between patient–physician communication and emergency healthcare use ( r = −0.712, P < .01) and length of hospital stay ( r = −0.317, P < .01). We think that the positive development of patient–physician communication may be an important way to reduce the use of emergency health services. The findings obtained regarding the length of hospital stay support this result. In addition, it was concluded that good communication with the physician may be an important factor in patients taking a more active role in healthcare. Further research is suggested to examine whether the observed associations are causal.

No abstract

In this review study, the factors affecting the interaction between the patient and the physician were investigated and the studies were taken into consideration for evaluation. The results of the investigations showed that the factors such as values, beliefs and opinions, gender of physicians, cognitive characteristics, behavior of physicians, race and ethnicity, social styles of patients, health status, informed consent, physician image, personal characteristics of patients and patient relatives have a significant effect in this regard. In the studies we reviewed, important findings were found to be highlighted under these headings. In particular, it was found that female physicians establish more empathy, that physicians with better cognitive characteristics are more effective in interaction, that well-informing the patient is beneficial, that nonverbal communication should be given importance in addition to verbal communication, that a good communication should be established with patient relatives, and that patient beliefs should be taken into consideration. In addition, elderly patients, patients with low literacy levels, and male patients were found to have more trouble in the interaction with physicians.