Self-assessed active listening skills and attitude among resident physicians in a tertiary hospital in Iloilo City

ABSTRACT

Background@#The skill of active listening is important in the diagnosis and management of patients by physicians.@*Objective@#The aim of the study was to determine the self-assessed active listening skills and attitude among resident physicians in a tertiary hospital in Iloilo City.@*Methods@#This is a cross sectional study which recruited all sixty-two resident physicians of the different residency training programs of Iloilo Mission Hospital. The participants answered a self-administered questionnaire in January 2020. Data entry and data analysis were done using Microsoft Excel and SPSS. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the level of active listening skills and attitude of the respondents. ANOVA, T-test, and Pearson chi square at alpha level 0.05 were used to determine the association between the variables.@*Results@#Majority (87%) of resident physicians had medium level of active listening skills and attitude based on their Active Listening Attitude Scale (ALAS) score. The remaining 13% had high ALAS score. There was no socio-economic variable that was found to be associated with ALAS score.@*Conclusions@#The resident physicians of Iloilo Mission Hospital have a medium to high level of active listening skills and attitude. The respondents believe that having good active listening skills will help them deal with their patients and honing such skills should be encouraged during residency training.