Physician-patient agreement on physicians' communication skills and visit satisfaction in dermatology clinics: a one-with-many design.

backgroundThere is limited research on physician-patient communication skills that covers both sides of the relationship. The aim of this study was to explore two indicators of effective physician-patient communication: the agreement of physicians' and patients' perspectives of physicians' communication skills in outpatient visits to dermatology clinics and the relationship of these perceptions of the consultation with their visit satisfaction. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: Dermatologists (

resultsThe patients rated the communication content skills higher than the physicians did; however, the doctors rated themselves as better skilled at the process of communication. There was disagreement between the physicians' and the patients' ratings of the both physicians' content and process skills. In contrast, there was a high level of consensus amongst patients of the same doctor about the content and process of the doctor's communication skills, while the physicians did not perceive themselves as consistent in communication between one patient and another. However, both the physicians and the patients who reported uniquely the highest physicians' communication skills had higher visit satisfaction. Moreover, the patients who perceived their physicians as having good communication process skills on average had higher visit satisfaction.

conclusionsAlthough the perspectives of the same visit differed, self-rated behaviour affected satisfaction with visit.