Prevalence and nature of cost discussions during clinical appointments in companion animal practice
- 1 June 2009
- journal article
- Published by American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
- Vol. 234 (11) , 1418-1424
- https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.234.11.1418
Abstract
Objective—To determine prevalence and nature of cost discussions between veterinarians and pet owners during clinical appointments in companion animal practice. Design—Cross-sectional descriptive study. Sample Population—20 veterinarians in companion animal practice in eastern Ontario and 350 clients and their pets. Procedures—200 veterinarian-client-patient interactions were randomly selected from all videotaped interactions and analyzed with the Roter interaction analysis system. Additional proficiency codes and blocking functions were developed to capture the prevalence, nature, and context of cost discussions. Results—58 of the 200 (29%) appointments that were analyzed included a discussion of cost. During 38 of these 58 (66%) appointments, the discussion involved costs associated with the veterinarian's time or with services provided by the veterinarian. Overall, reference to a written estimate was made during only 28 of the 200 (14%) appointments. Cost discussions were most common during appointment...Keywords
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