The relation between good communication skills on the part of the physician and patient satisfaction in a military setting

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the correlation between patients' view of the consultation and the assessment of an auditing physician on the same consultation. METHODS: A prospective study in military clinics was conducted. A board-certified family physician made a real-time semistructured assessment of the medical consultation. At the end of it, the patient was asked to fill in the Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire. The degree of correlation between patients' satisfaction from consultation and the scores given by the auditing physician was evaluated. RESULTS: Twelve primary care physicians were evaluated. A total of 117 (76.5%) of 153 patients returned their questionnaires. A positive correlation was found between physician's communication skills and general satisfaction (r = 0.614), professional care (r = 0.367), and depth of relationship (r = 0.275) calculated from the Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire. No correlation was found between patient satisfaction and other consultation skills. CONCLUSIONS: Good communication skills may enhance patient satisfaction. It may be advisable to investigate whether a training program to enhance the physician's communication skills can improve patient satisfaction.