A STRATEGY FOR IMPROVING PATIENT SATISFACTION BY THE INTENSIVE TRAINING OF RESIDENTS IN PSYCHOSOCIAL MEDICINE - A CONTROLLED, RANDOMIZED STUDY

Purpose. To use a controlled, randomized design to assess the effect o n patient satisfaction of an intensive psychosocial training program f or residents. Method. Twenty-six first-year residents, in two internal medicine and family practice community-based programs affiliated with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, were randoml y assigned during 1991 and 1992 to a control group or a one-month inte nsive training program. Experiential teaching focused on many psychoso cial skills required in primary care. A 29-item questionnaire administ ered before and after the residents' training evaluated their patients ' satisfaction regarding patient disclosure, physician empathy, confid ence in physician, general satisfaction, and comparison of the physici an with other physicians. Analyses of covariance with groups and gende r as factors and pre-training patient satisfaction scores as the covar iate evaluated the effect of the training. Results. The patients of th e trained residents expressed more confidence in their physicians (P = .01) and more general satisfaction (P = .02) than did the patients of controls. The effect of training on patient satisfaction with patient disclosure (P < .01) and physician empathy (P < .05) was greater for female than for male residents. Conclusion. The intensive psychosocial training program for residents improved their patients' satisfaction.