Women's satisfaction with physicians' communication skills during an infertility consultation

The purpose of this study was to assess women's satisfaction with the communication of medical residents, in a university tertiary service in Brazil. The follow-up visits of 124 women consulting with 7 physicians were observed. An exit interview was performed to assess women's perception of their interaction with physicians. Factor analysis was used to build a satisfaction score, which was then studied according to the presence or absence (yes/no) of physicians' communicative behaviors observed by the researcher during consultation. Median satisfaction score was 9.4 in a 0-10 scale. Four physicians' communicative behaviors showed significant differences in the general satisfaction score: introducing oneself, setting the main reason for the visit, providing information about treatment procedures and asking whether patient had other issues or concerns. No significant differences were found in satisfaction scores for women's socialdemographic characteristics, reproductive history or duration of consultation. These results are important in the development of educational strategies for doctors and patients. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.