Correlation between knowledge and satisfaction of patients from patient- physician relationship

Treatment of diseases is largely depended on the interaction between doctor and patient, and the result of cooperation with clinicians is rapid and successful treatment. Moreover, the relationship is one of the critical factors of the patients` satisfaction, especially next reference of patients. This study is aimed to determine the correlation between knowledge and satisfaction of patients from patient- physician relationship at the hospital affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

This study has been done in descriptive-correlational method on 309 people who referred to 11 teaching hospitals and medical which covered by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Data was gathered through three questionnaires of "Knowledge of Physician-Patient Relationship", "Satisfaction of Physician-Patient Relationship" and "Physician-Patient Relationship". Validity of the questionnaires was approved by 3 experts and the reliability by calculating Cronbach's alpha (α=0.87, α=0.87, α=0.79). Data analysis was performed by SPSS/16 and using the Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test and ANOVA.

The mean score of knowledge and satisfaction of patients from physician-patient relationship was respectively, 2.09 ± 10.5 and 6.58 ± 34.08. Also, the average scores of correlation between physician and patient were 6.04 ± 35.86, respectively. Significant correlation was observed between satisfaction levels of physician - patient relationship (P<0.01). On the other hand, there wasn`t a significant correlation between knowledge of physician- patient relationship and physician- patient relationship.

The results of this study showed that patient’ knowledge and satisfaction of physician–patients` relationship in Tabriz hospitals were high. It is recommended that a system to be designed to assess the relationship between physician and patient correctly until it give important information.