Share PostNearly 80 percent of patients who saw their doctor about at least three times in the last year said personalized care, time spent with them, and empathy were major factors of their satisfaction, according to Modern Medicine.
The survey included more than 2,000 adults, made specific statements about their PCPs such as “He/she cares about my health” and “He/she takes time to listen to me and address my concerns.” Patients most often based their satisfaction on their physicians’ customer service, followed by communication, treatment and diagnosis, and scheduling, with a PCP’s intelligence listed as one of the least common reasons for satisfaction.
For this survey, women aged at least 55 years who possess a college degree and have an annual income of at least $75,000 were most likely to have a PCP. Men aged at least 55 years were the most likely to be satisfied with their PCPs, according to the study, whereas women aged 18 to 34 years were most likely to say they were not very satisfied with their physicians. The study notes that confidence in a physician’s judgment and satisfaction seems to grow as the patient ages.
This survey results demonstrate that soft skills are critical to business success. As medical schools do not appear to focus on this aspect of a medical practice, physicians would be best served to get development on the softer skills…for not just their patients, but for staff as well. Employees are more productive when they like/get along with their supervisors and for similar reasons why a patient is satisfied with their doctor.
There are many physcians that do quite well with the soft skills so please understand that I am not implying that all physicians need soft skill development.