By /

Kayla Moniz

Undetected PCOS in Women: Rethinking Healthcare Provider-Patient Communication

Biography

My university journey began at the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics, where I studied Economics and Accounting for a year before transferring to Toronto Metropolitan University for Professional Communication Studies. While I still have an interest in business, I transferred with the goal of pursuing a career in the Canadian media landscape, confident that TMU’s program would help me achieve my dream. My professional experiences include working as a Continuous Improvement Analyst Student at CIBC, and a Digital Marketing Intern for Cityline, a daytime television show for Rogers Sports & Media. With part of my dream already realized, I look forward to continuing to build a career in the Canadian film and television industry with the skills that Professional Communication has given me.

The Professional Communication program has also introduced me to other areas of communication that I am passionate about, such as health communication and knowledge translation, which I dedicated my capstone project to. I believe that to improve upon current systems and structures, communication has to be analyzed and repaired. Health communication is crucial to ensuring all patients receive the effective care they deserve, especially in women’s health settings where systemic barriers and historical discrimination often work against patients’ best interests. My capstone analyzes the experiences of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and aims to improve the communication model between provider and patient that perpetuates systemic barriers, preventing women from receiving effective care.

Details of Project

The objective of this research project was to examine the reasons behind the underdiagnosis of PCOS, to explore what issues are causing distrust between healthcare-provider (HCP) and patient, and to create an effective framework to improve diagnosing and treating PCOS. The research analyzed 20 crowdsourced videos under #PCOS to examine patient experiences with diagnosis and treatment to answer the proposed research questions. Key findings include 100% of videos mentioning communication with a healthcare provider reporting negative experiences, a noticeable gap between when women are first experiencing symptoms compared to when they receive a diagnosis, 65% of patients expressing a lack of trust in doctors, and 91% of videos discussing treatment mention patients self-treating their PCOS. The data highlights the challenges women face receiving a diagnosis for PCOS and effective care.

Lightning talk

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