Patients´ satisfaction with communication with their family doctors: comparison of three methods for assessing unmet needs

• Published in: Revista espanola de salud publica Vol. 85; no. 3; p. 315
• Main Authors: Ruiz-Moral, Roger, Pérula de Torres, Luis Ángel, Muñoz Alamo, Miguel, Jiménez García, Celia, González Nebauer, Valeria, Alba Dios, Antonia, Barrios Blasco, Luciano, Criado Larumbe, Margarita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Spain 01.06.2011
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cross-Sectional Studies; Family Practice; Female; Humans; Information Seeking Behavior; Male; Middle Aged; Needs Assessment; Patient Satisfaction - statistics & numerical data; Physician-Patient Relations; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2173-9110

Different aspects of the doctor-patient relationship were associated with satisfaction and other outcomes of the consultation. However, measurements of the perception of communication quality are often limited by the "ceiling effect". To evaluate the relationship and differences between three ways to obtain information regarding patient satisfaction and perception of unmet needs in communication aspects with your doctor. An observational descriptive study was design. Patient perception regarding four communicational domains when attending family doctors measured by means of three different type of questions. 658 (91%) patients attending the consultation of 97 physicians in 58 Health Centres. 401 (62%) of them were females. Average age 52 years (TD:17,4; CI95%: 50,6-53,3 years), 401 females (62%: CI95%: 58,7-66,4%). In close ended questions, patients declared high rates of satisfaction for all the communicative domains studied: relationship 99,7% (CI95%: 98,8-99,9%), explaining reasons for consultation (CI95%: 94,4-97,7%), information regarding causes 96,2% (CI95%: 89,9- 94,3%), and therapeutic plan 97,9% (CI95%:96,7-99,1%). Patients declared as insatisfied gave high number of suggestions or showed more discrepancy of frequency (p<0.05); nevertheless, up to 28,9% of satisfied patients made suggestions for improving communication (p<0,001). [corrected] Designing open-ended questions where patient can make suggestions, seems to be a good method for detecting unmet needs in doctor patient communication that close-ended question about satisfaction or those exploring possible discrepancy on the frequency of some behaviours.