The Quality of General Prectice and Family Consultation: are doctors prepared to correctly evaluate how the patients feel about?

Abstract

One of the criteria for evaluating medical activity in the field of Family and General Practice, in Brazil known as Family and  Community Practice, is the satisfaction obtained in the doctor-patient encounter. The general practitioner, while performing his activity based on the fundamental pillars context, science and attitude, has to consider that quality is something that has to be seen from the viewpoint of the patient as well. Objectives: verify the degree of satisfaction of patients with the general practice consultation and the capacity of the practitioners to correctly predict the satisfaction of their patients with the consultation. An observational transverse study was carried out with the intent to analyze this question. The subjects ans material used in the study consisted of: three general practitioners from a Primary Care Unit, a validated questionnaire and users of consultations on two distinct workdays. Method: during two specific days, only revealed in the beginning of each work shift, the doctors asked the patients to answer a questionnaire containing 11 statements. In the end of each consultation, after the patient had left, the doctors answered the same questionnaire from their own perspective. Criteria for inclusion in the study: over 16 years of age, ability to read and write and consensual participation. Data were submitted to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis (chi square and student’s t test). The differences in the answers to the statements contained in the questionnaire were analyzed with a bivariable correlation model using Kendall’s tau-b coefficient with sensibility of 5%. Results: Forty three (64,2%) of the distributed questionnaires were returned. The age mean of responders was 42,7±16,8 years, most of them of feminine sex (72,1 %). 51,3% of the sample claimed that they were not given the chance to speak about their health concerns, 50% seem not to have received instructions about healthier life styles in relation to their disease and in the opinion of 56,1% the consultation was too short. The answers showed no significant differences in relation to sex, age group and educational level of the responders. The only question in which doctors and patients agreed was that the doctors were ready to care for the health of the patients. Conclusions: the consultations were considered good with regard to the 11 factors studied. The doctors reveal low capacity for correctly predicting the satisfaction of their patients with the consultation. Doctors and patients only agree with respect to the doctor’s readiness to care for the patients health.