SPEAK WITH PATIENTS, NOT AT THEM Analysing the Foundations of Trust in Medical Care

Various studies have focused on defining the roles that both doctors and patients should adopt during consultations with a view to improving user satisfaction and confidence in the medical care they receive. These two factors clearly contribute to ensuring compliance with the advice and treatments prescribed by healthcare providers and the subsequent success of consultations. Due to the lack of consensus among researchers, this paper aims to empirically examine how confidence in healthcare varies based on assessments made by users regarding different aspects of medical care. The data were taken from the Survey of primary healthcare users of the Andalusian Healthcare Service in 2006. Trust in healthcare is highly related to the satisfaction users express in the four variables examined in the study. The main conclusion is that successful doctor-patient relationships are based on effective communication and not a mere exchange of information.