The doctor-patient communication gap: Reddit as a window into our patients' concerns.

Background: Physician-patient communication may be limited by time, especially in dermatology, where providers often see a high-volume of patients. Awareness of common patient frustrations may prepare dermatologists to optimize healthcare visits. Objective: This study employs Reddit to characterize sentiment toward dermatologists to identify opportunities to improve patient-physician communication. Methods: We obtained sentiment scores (SSs) for the top 1000 posts in the "r/Psoriasis," "r/Eczema," and "r/TS_Withdrawal" subreddits using the Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner. Paragraphs containing dermatologist-related terms (DPs) and had negative SSs were extracted and reviewed by the authors to identify themes. Results: In all subreddits, DPs had negative mean SSs (mean SS, r/Eczema: -0.097; r/Psoriasis: -0.024; r/TS_Withdrawal: -0.062). Paragraphs without DPs had positive mean SSs (mean SS, r/Eczema: 0.032; r/Psoriasis: 0.012; r/TS_Withdrawal: 0.090). Differences between these paragraph types were significant (r/Eczema: Conclusion: Reddit may serve as a useful window into patient perceptions of dermatologic care that can inform dermatologists of common concerns, facilitating positive communication and improving the doctor-patient relationship in dermatology.