Doctor-patient interactions with respect to type of practice

ABSTRACT

Background: The doctor-patient relationship is the core foundation for healing, care, establishment of trust and an essential part of modern-day medical ethics. The last few decades have seen an exponential growth in the scientific component of the medical field which has led to a strain on doctor-patient relationship. With the growing trend of patients wanting more information from their doctor in order to have a more active role in their health-care, active communication from the physician’s end is needed. Present study aims to find out what doctors over various fields expect out of this relationship.Methods: A cross sectional prospective study was conducted among a total of 49 urban and rural doctors of various specialities in an urban area of Maharashtra using a pre-structured questionnaire. The statistical tools used to analyse the data was by using Microsoft excel software.Results: It was also noted that time spent with patients was less by the specialists as compared with other doctors for all aspects of consultation. On evaluating experience with the duration of consultation, we noted that doctors having more than 30 years of experience gave lesser time for all aspects of consultation as compared to those with lesser experience. A close range, between 45%-57% of all physicians, admitted to answering phone calls during consultations.Conclusions:It is imperative to study doctor-patient interactions since a better relationship results in a more satisfied patient with better treatment outcome.