Communication skills training for doctors increases patient satisfaction

The purpose of this paper is to examine changes in patients' satisfaction after their doctor has participated in a brief educational intervention on medicolegal risk management.

Questionnaire completed by ambulatory patients, measuring satisfaction with their doctor's communication skills before and three months after the doctor participated in a three hour workshop on medicolegal risk management. 75 obstetrician/gynaecologists (O&Gs) and 99 general practitioners (GPs) were each rated by 60 of their patients following a consultation in their clinical rooms.

Patient satisfaction as evidenced by change to “complete satisfaction” with doctor's communication skills and overall satisfaction with the clinical encounter.

Participants had high initial patient satisfaction ratings and these were found to have improved across all parameters three months after the educational intervention.

The educational intervention was successful in improving doctors' communication skills as evidenced by enhanced patient satisfaction in all key areas, including those most frequently associated with patient complaint, litigation and adverse outcome.