Knowledge and Practices of the Family Doctor Regarding the Procedure of Communication and Counseling the Patient

Abstract

Doctor-patient communication plays an important role in developing a trusting relationship, and the patient's trust in the doctor is one of the most important aspects because it correlates with the outcome of care. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the family doctors' level of knowledge and practices regarding the patient communication and counseling procedure in order to develop the recommendations necessary to make the counseling and doctor-patient communication process more efficient in Primary Medical Assistance. In order to achieve this objective, a descriptive, selective and mixed study was carried out by surveying 342 family doctors (quantitative study) and focus group discussions with 41 family doctors. The result found that the majority of urban and rural family doctors have been formally trained in the patient communication and counseling procedure and possess a satisfactory level of knowledge in this area, but some practices still remain below expectations. One of the significant barriers to patient communication reported by family physicians is time constraints/insufficiency.