Relationship between Physician Communication Skills and Patients' Satisfaction

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: The communication skills (CS) of physicians are the first and most effective step in relationship between doctor and patient. The CS plays an essential role in treatment processes. Objectives: This current study was performed for investigation of the relationship of communication skillfulness of physicians on the patient’s satisfaction.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the relationship between communication skillfulness capacity of practitioners in the clinics of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The DiMatteo’s Patient Satisfaction Scale was administered among 250 patients referring to the clinics of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Gathered data were analyzed by 16th version of SPSS software using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, U Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-wallis Test, Regression. Results: The study showed that there is a significant correlation between the communication skills and devoting the appropriate time for visiting the patients, explaining diagnosis and treatment procedures. Therapeutic skills, friendly behavior of physicians, respecting the patients' feelings, and careful examination of patients by physician, showed a significant correlation with patient satisfaction (P <0.01). However, we did not find strong correlation between effective-listening to patients and patient’s satisfaction. Conclusion: Communication skills of physician play an important role on patients’ satisfaction; therefore, we propose strongly to improve the communication skills of physicians by providing the communication skills through related training courses.