• Carol M Ashton, Paul Haidet, Debora A Paterniti, Tracie C Collins, Howard S Gordon, Kimberly O'Malley, Laura A Petersen, Barbara F Sharf, Maria E Suarez-Almazor, Nelda P Wray, and Richard L Street.
• Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex, USA. cashton@bcm.tmc.edu
• J Gen Intern Med. 2003 Feb 1; 18 (2): 146152146-52.

AbstractAfrican Americans and Latinos use services that require a doctor's order at lower rates than do whites. Racial bias and patient preferences contribute to disparities, but their effects appear small. Communication during the medical interaction plays a central role in decision making about subsequent interventions and health behaviors. Research has shown that doctors have poorer communication with minority patients than with others, but problems in doctor-patient communication have received little attention as a potential cause, a remediable one, of health disparities. We evaluate the evidence that poor communication is a cause of disparities and propose some remedies drawn from the communication sciences.

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