Comparison of patient-centered doctor-patient communication skills in anesthesiologists with different working experience and genders / 中华麻醉学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To compare the patient-centered doctor-patient communication skills in anesthesiologists with different working experience and genders.Methods:The second and third year residents who had been trained as residents in the Department of Anesthesiology in our hospital from September 2017 and September 2018 and senior physicians who had worked for 10-15 yr in our hospital, were recruited to perform a preoperative interview in a standardized patient counter.Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure was used to assess the communication skills among senior physicians, residents, and anesthesiologists of different genders.The residents also took the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and theory examination.Results:Thirty-six residents and 20 senior physicians were included.There was no significant difference in the CARE measure score between residents and senior physicians and in the total CARE measure score between residents who received doctor-patient communication training at the stage of medical students and those who did not ( P>0.05). Compared with the residents in the second year, the listening ability score and decision-making ability score were significantly decreased ( P<0.05), and no significant change was found in the scores for the other items in the residents in the third year ( P>0.05). Compared with residents, the listening ability scores were significantly increased, and the caring ability scores were decreased ( P<0.05), and no significant change was found in the scores for the other items in senior physicians ( P>0.05). There was no difference in CARE measure scores between the male and female anesthesiologists.The resident′s CARE measure score was positively correlated with the annual OSCE score ( r=0.486, P<0.05), and there was no correlation between the resident′s CARE measure score and annual theoretical examination grade ( r=0.308, P>0.05). Conclusion:Senior anesthesiologists with more clinical experience are not superior to the junior residents in patient-centered communication skills, and the doctor-patient communication skills of residents are not related to their medical theoretical grade.Moreover, there is no significant difference between male and female anesthesiologists in terms of doctor-patient communication skills before surgery.Therefore, training of patient-centered doctor-patient communication skills should be strengthened at all levels of anesthesiologists.