Comparative Study of Opinions of Patients and Clinical Faculty Members of Babol University of Medical Sciences on Patient-Centeredness in Doctor-Patient Relationship Using Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Doctors communication abilities are associated with outcomes of medical care such as satisfaction and compliance. Two styles of practice are observed: patient- centered and doctor- centered. We designed this investigation to compare the opinions of patients and clinical faculty members of Babol University of medical sciences on patient-centeredness in doctor-patient relationship. METHODS: This cross sectional study was performed in the teaching hospitals of Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran in academic year of 2008-2009. We selected randomly 72 patients and 72 clinical faculty members. Our survey utilized PPOS (Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale), a validated instrument with total score ranging from patient-centered (6 scores) to doctor-centered (1 score).FINDINGS: Mean caring score of faculty members was 3.72±0.48, sharing was 3.10±0.62 and total was 3.41±0.49. Mean caring score of patients was 3.87±0.53, sharing was 3.45±0.94 and total was 3.66±0.57. Faculty members and patients showed significant differences in sharing (p=0.006) and total scores (p=0.008) but not in caring (p=0.068).CONCLUSION: Totally, patients were more patient centered. Our data suggest that staff development programs should be organized for clinical faculty members to achieve social needs for change in doctor-patient relationship