Physician Communication Style and Patient Satisfaction : Micro-Analyses of Medical Consultations

A medical consultation has three main functions: for the patient to narrate to the physician symptoms and relevant concerns, for the physician to learn about the patient's condition in order to reach a diagnosis and a treatment plan. How physicians and patients communicate with each other is key toward patient satisfaction, which may have impact on patient adherence to medical regimen, and consequently, the efficiency of the health care system. This research sampled thirty-one physician-patient consultations in a Canadian northern community which were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. The Roter Interaction Analysis System was used to micro-analyze the speech patterns of physicians and patients. The findings of this research should be of high interest to medical students, physicians, health policy makers, public health researchers, and most of all, recipients of health care - patients.