Rating Communication in GP Consultations: The Association Between Ratings Made by Patients and Trained Clinical...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Communication
• Patient Experience

Background:

• Patient evaluations of physician communication are common but their alignment with professional standards is unclear.
• Understanding the relationship between patient perception and objective measures of communication quality is crucial for improving healthcare interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between patient assessments of physician communication and observer-rated communication competence.
• To determine if patient ratings accurately reflect professionally agreed norms of communication quality.

Main Methods:

• Video recordings of consultations with Family Practitioners in England were obtained with patient consent.
• Patients rated their physician's communication skills post-consultation.
• Trained clinical raters evaluated a sample of consultation videos using the Calgary-Cambridge guide to the medical interview.

Main Results:

• Consultations rated highly by clinical raters also received high scores from patients.
• When clinical raters assessed communication as lower quality, patient scores varied widely, from "poor" to "very good."
• Some patients may hesitate to provide negative feedback on poor communication.

Conclusions:

• Patient evaluations are useful for comparing relative physician communication performance.
• Absolute scores from patient evaluations should be interpreted with caution due to potential biases.
• Further research is needed to understand factors influencing patient ratings of physician communication.