Patient-Centered Communication Behaviors That Correlate With Higher Patient Satisfaction Scores

Area of Science:

• Healthcare communication
• Patient experience research
• Emergency medicine quality improvement

Background:

• Growing emphasis on enhancing patient experience necessitates improved clinician communication.
• Patient satisfaction (PS) scores are increasingly tied to patient-centered communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between specific clinician communication behaviors and patient satisfaction (PS) in the emergency department (ED).
• To identify communication strategies that contribute to higher PS scores within the ED setting.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 191 bedside observations of emergency department (ED) clinicians during initial patient interactions.
• Recorded the frequency of 8 positive communication behaviors using the PatientSET tool.
• Compared communication behavior frequency between high and low Press Ganey patient satisfaction (PS) performers.

Main Results:

• High Press Ganey performers demonstrated significantly higher frequency in 6 out of 8 observed PatientSET communication behaviors.
• A strong association was found between specific communication practices and elevated patient satisfaction (PS) in the ED.

Conclusions:

• Positive communication behaviors, as defined by the PatientSET tool, are more prevalent among ED clinicians who achieve higher patient satisfaction (PS) scores.
• These findings underscore the importance of targeted communication training to improve patient experience in emergency departments.