Doctor:patient communication in ophthalmic outpatient visits

Interviews with 163 patients and the 19 ophthalmologists who examined them disclosed that patients considered an adequate explanation of diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis as the most important communication items in determining satisfaction with care. Ophthalmologists in private practice appeared to share this valuation, except that explaining the prognosis of an illness was not rated as highly. Resident ophthalmologists rated all explanatory items far less important than did their patients. Among items related to personalization of the encounter, ophthalmologists in private practice underrated the importance of dealing with the patient's concerns, while residents underrated familiarity, undivided attention, and encouragement. In spite of these differences, ophthalmologists apparently are sensitive to patient expectations, inasmuch as they received generally high ratings for their performance in each of the items that patients valued highly and poorer ratings for those items that were held less important.