ISSUES RELATED TO DOCTOR-PATIENT COMMUNICATION
Authors:   Central Clinical Psychiatric Hospital named after F.A. Usoltseva, Moscow, Russia, Davidov David , Moskvicheva Alexandra ,   Medical College No. 7, Moscow, Russia, Shubina Lyubov ,   Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, Shikina Irina ,   Federal research institute for Health organization and informatics of Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
Published: December 2023

Significance. The skills of effective doctor-patient communication are at the heart of a successful therapeutic process, enhancing diagnostic, medical and psychotherapeutic potentials of the treatment. Many leading medical schools have been actively studying the problems of communication in the process of medical consultation and developing their own communication models. This study intends to contribute to the elaboration of a similar model in the Russian Federation through identifying communication bottlenecks in a medical consultation. The purpose of the study is to analyze problems related to doctor-patient communication, assess satisfaction of doctors and patients with the quality of consultation in outpatient and inpatient facilities. Material and methods. The study was based on data analysis of 600 completed questionnaires (300 questionnaires for doctors and 300 questionnaires for patients), personally developed by the authors, based on key points of the most popular models of medical communication. Statistical data processing was performed using the SPSS STATISTICS 21.0 program. Results. The results obtained showed a number of defects in the doctor-patient communicative interaction during a medical consultation. For doctors working in a public hospital, the biggest problem was improper organization of the working day, while in a private hospital - establishing contact with the patient. Doctors in polyclinics rarely had the opportunity to discuss doubts and fears of the patient in both private and public organizations; while the patients were dissatisfied with the end of the consultation either. The patients singled out the following most problematic issues in the communication: the beginning of the consultation and the form of interaction in a public hospital, uncertainty in understanding a further plan of action and treatment, incomplete discussion of fears and expectations regarding their condition in a state polyclinic, and low degree of their involvement and understanding of peculiar features of the disease. Conclusion: difficulties in the communication process during a medical consultation exist both in medical organizations providing inpatient care and outpatient care, regardless of the form of ownership (public or private). The nature of the “communication error” differs across medical organizations. The survey made it possible to identify a number of communication problems that are essential for the successful implementation of the therapeutic process in patients, however, it had certain limitations due to specifics of the departments. The authors consider it expedient to conduct an expanded study within other departments of therapeutic, surgical, and rehabilitation profile.