[Biosocial aspects of physician-patient communication in general medicine]

Patient-physician communication is an essential part of the medical practice, especially in general practice. Accurate history-taking and proper physical examination are conditions for making correct diagnosis and corresponding therapeutic measures. A good patient-physician relationship is important when considering patient's satisfaction, which is one of indicators of quality assurance in health care. Former studies of patient-physician communication were mostly biomedical, while today they are more oriented towards the biosocial aspect of this communication. Most important health problems general practitioners meet and solve, or should solve today, are mostly caused by risk factors connected to behavior (diet, smoking, alcohol abuse etc.). All these factors can be influenced by various forms of education, while one of the ways is accepting the biopsychological approach (together with the biomedical) which should ensure better physician-patient communication, especially at the primary health care level.