A cross-sectional study to assess patients’ perception of physicians’ communication skills: 15 minutes is what it takes

Objectives: Patient satisfaction with physicians’ communication skills is imperative to patient centered care and improving healthcare outcomes. We aimed to assess patients’ perception of resident-physicians’ communication skills and factors associated with satisfactory communication. Methods: Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected at one of the largest academic medical centers in a low-and-middle-income country. Participants were out-patients with at least two prior follow-up visits in clinics and in-patients admitted for at least 48 hours, recruited via convenience sampling. Patient-reported ratings of residents’ communication skills were measured using the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT). This rating categorized as either excellent (cumulative average score ≥4) or poor (cumulative average score ≤3) on a five-point Likert scale was the primary outcome. Data were analyzed using Stata. An adjusted multivariable model with patient (sex, age, marital status, education level), resident (department, frequency and duration of interaction with the patient) and system (outpatient/inpatient) related factors was built to determine their associations with excellent/poor patient-resident communication. Results: A total of 434 patients (61.29 % females; 38.71 % males, mean age: 42.5 ± 0.83 years) were surveyed. Patient-resident interaction time was the most significant factor associated with patients’ satisfaction with residents’ communication skills when adjusted for patient gender, age, marital status, specialty visited, number of visits and days admitted. Regression analysis showed that patients rated residents who spent at least 15 minutes with them as excellent [OR = 1.86 (1.05 – 2.97)]. Inpatient care settings [OR = 0.59 (0.35–0.98)] and increasing levels of patient education [OR= 1.78 (1.06–2.97)] and were significantly associated with poor patient ratings. Conclusions: Residents who interacted with patients for at least 15 minutes received a higher satisfactory communication skills rating by patients. Practice implications: Knowledge of a specific time target can help healthcare structures schedule resident workload assignments to ensure effective patient physician communication and thus improve healthcare outcomes.