The Importance Of Doctor-Patient Communication

A STUDY OF PATIENT PHYSICIAN COMMUNICATION IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Summary
The international patient safety goals highlight the importance of effective patient physician communication in a hospital. Effective Doctor-Patient communication is the basic requirement in forming a good doctor-patient relationship. Safe practices and effective, patient-centered communication is key to quality care. Good communication is not only an ethical mandate but also necessary for informed consent and effective patient engagement. It is an effective approach to avoid errors, improve quality and achieve better and safer health outcomes. The ultimate objective of any Doctor-Patient communication is to avoid patient harm and improve the patient's health and

The results indicated that there was moderate correlation (correlation coefficient “r” is around .50 in each case) between Patient Satisfaction at each level of Patient Communication on Patient Satisfaction from overall Patient Communication. The result indicated that patient communication at each level was associated with patient satisfaction from the overall patient communication which suggested that flow of information is important for patient at each level of patient communication.
Table: Correlation Between Patient Satisfaction at each level of Patient Communication on Patient Satisfaction from overall Patient Communication Patient Satisfaction from Overall Patient Communication
Patient Satisfaction at Awareness Level 0.46
Patient Satisfaction at Care and Treatment Level 0.45
Patient Satisfaction at Discharge Level 0.47
Patient Satisfaction at Education on Patient Rights Level

93% of the patients (65 out of 70) said that the physician did not give them enough time to interact and was in a hurry to get over with the session, while 84% of the patients (59 out of 70) said that they could not discuss their matter at length with the physician since the felt too shy to talk about it and felt that their privacy might be breached. 80% of the patients (56 out of 70) said language was the barrier in their interaction with the