ABSTRACT
Objective To assess the empathy level of general practitioners (GPs) in the outpatient clinics of a general hospital,and to investigate the related factors.Methods Patients attending the Family Medicine Clinic of HKU-Shenzhen Hospital in September 2014 and met the inclusion criteria were asked to complete the questionnaire which included general characteristics,overall satisfaction and the Measure-Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure (CARE) Scale after the consultation.Results Of the 1 818 questionnaires retrieved,1 690 CARE scales were completed (intact rate was 92.96%).The overall satisfaction rate was 95.92% (1 621/1 690).And 97.28% (1 644/1 690) of the patients would recommend family medicine service to their friends or relatives.The total score of CARE scale was (45.47±6.26),and the scores of 4 CARE components were (4.63 ± 0.59),(4.43 ± 0.81),(4.54 ± 0.69) and (4.55 ± 0.66),which showed significant difference (P<0.01).The multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the mean CARE scores were not influenced by gender and education levels of the patients,gender of the consulting doctors,initial/follow up consultation,and the location of the consultation.The mean CARE scores were influenced by age of patients and the reasons for consulting (P<0.05).There was a moderate correlation of the CARE scores with the overall satisfaction of patients (r=0.613,P<0.001) and patient's recommendation of the clinic (r=0.466,P<0.001).Conclusion Doctors who were evaluated in this study have a higher empathy level than results from other countries.There is positive correlation between doctor's empathy level and patient's overall satisfaction.The result of doctor's empathy level may be influenced by patient's age and the reasons for consulting.
ABSTRACT
Objective To assess the patient enablement level in a general hospital and its related factors,to investigate the relationship of patient enablement with patient's overall satisfaction and doctor's empathy levels.Methods Patients attending the Family Medicine Clinic of HKU-Shenzhen Hospital in September 2014 and met the inclusion criteria were asked to complete a questionnaire survey which included general characteristics,overall satisfaction;the Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI) and the Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure Scale (CARE) after the consultation.Results Total 2 326 questionnaires were issued and 1 818 were retrieved,of which 1 478 were qualified questionnaires.The qualified rate of PEI was 81.3％ and the qualified rate of patient overall satisfaction was 96.28％.The positive rate of patient enablement was 97.70％ (1 444/1 478),and the mean score of PEI was 8.21 ±3.33.Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the PEI scores were not influenced by gender and education level of the patients,gender of the consulting doctors and initial/follow up consultation.The PEI scores were influenced by the age of the patients,the types of clinic (general practice/chronic practice clinic) and the reasons for consulting (P ＜ 0.05).There were correlations between PEI score and overall satisfaction of patients (r =0.383,P ＜ 0.001),patient's recommendation of the clinic (r =0.595,P ＜ 0.001) and CARE scores (r =0.546,P ＜ 0.001).Conclusion The results show that the PEI scores of patients visiting family medicine clinic of this hospital are higher than those reported in other studies.The PEI score may be influenced by the age of the patients,the types of clinic and the reasons for consulting.Positive correlations between patient enablement and the overall satisfaction,patient's recommendation and doctor empathy were observed.