Verbal Communication Skills and Patient Satisfaction

This research attempted to quantify specific behaviors in the physician's initial interviewing style and relate them to patients' perception of satisfaction. Five physicians were tape recorded during their initial interviews with 52 adult patients. The patients were asked to complete the Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale, a 29-item instrument with a 7-point response scale. These interviews were transcribed, timed, coded, and analyzed with the use of the Computerized Language Analysis System. Selected variables of the language dimensions were entered as the predictor variables in a multiple regression, along with satisfaction scores as the dependent variables. Twenty-seven percent of the variance (p less than .01) in the satisfaction scores of initial interviews were explained by three aspects of a physician's language style: (a) use of silence or reaction time latency between speakers in an interview, (b) whether there was language reciprocity as determined through the reciprocal use of word-lists, and (c) the reflective use of interruptions within an interview. Considering the complexity of human communication, the fact that three variables were identified, which accounted for 27% of the variance in patients' satisfaction, is considered a substantial finding.