Patients' views on the professional behaviour of family physicians

Background. Patient satisfaction is an important part and a measure of the quality of health care. Patient satisfaction with family physicians was stu died within the project 'Analysis of Transition of Health Care System in Cr oatia'. Objectives. The aim of this study was to explore patient satisfaction with family physicians through evaluation of some characteristics of physician b ehaviour. The specific goals of this study were to determine whether there were differences in the evaluation of patient satisfaction with physician b ehaviour with regard to some sociodemographic characteristics of the respon dents. Methods. The study group consisted of 1217 respondents: 479 (39.4%) men and 738 (60.6%) women. Medical students interviewed the respondents 'face-to-f ace' immediately after their consultation with the physician. An anonymous questionnaire was created providing answers to 10 questions on patient sati sfaction. Data on sociodemographic characteristics and the reason for encou nter of the respondents were also collected. Results. The average positive rating over 10 questions on patient satisfact ion was 85.3%. There was a statistically significant difference in age dist ribution between geographic areas (P < 0.001). Differences in answers were found regarding sex, age, educational level (P < 0.001) and reason for enco unter (P < 0.01). Two factors were obtained by factor analysis: the fi rst could be called physician's competence/expertise estimated by respondents, and the other physician's empathy evaluated by respondents. The respondents were divided into two groups based on the reason for encounter as a criter ion for discriminant analysis: acute (symptoms and complaints, injuries; n = 553) and other reasons (n = 664). The discriminant function obtained was statistically significant (P < 0.01). Younger respondents, regardless of se x, whose reason for encounter was an acute condition, were less satisfied w ith the physician's expertise, agreeableness during the consultation, physi cian's interest in what they were saying and physician's friendliness. Conclusion. Considering the difficulties present in the health systems of c ountries in transition, the results of our study were surprisingly encourag ing, showing that the respondents were satisfied with the physician's behav iour and that the physicians fulfilled the basic elements of professional b ehaviour.