From the Providers' Perspective: Challenges and Facilitators of Patient-Centered Communication and Its Role for Decision-Making in the Context of Implant Treatment in Germany.

Patient-centered communication (PCC) is considered an ideal for effective, trusting treatment-relationships. It enables decision-making, patient empowerment, and better treatment outcomes. Although PCC emerges from the interactions between patients and healthcare providers, little is known about the healthcare providers' perspective on PCC. To close this gap and to explore their perception of PCC and decision-making, we conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with N = 13 German healthcare providers (HCPs) working in three different fields of implant treatment, namely cochlear, dental, and orthopedic implants as examples for elective treatment contexts with varying degrees of invasiveness and rehabilitation requirements. Our results indicate that aspects of PCC were often described to occur in the interactions. We found that healthcare providers aimed for information exchange, outcome expectation management, and supporting patients' emotional coping during encounters. However, limiting factors such as a lack of time or low patient literacy were also discussed. We also found PCC to be crucial for decision-making as HCPs intend to enable patients to make an informed decision while also reflecting on their power to steer the discussion. Our findings underscore the importance to raise further awareness for the potentials of PCC among healthcare providers.