Examining the Impact of Short Consultation Time in the Relationship between Physicians and Patients

• Main Authors: Rong-San Jiang, 江榮山
• Other Authors: 張國雄
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44584643943447568108

碩士 === 東海大學 === 管理碩士學程在職進修專班 === 92 === The time spent at consultation is an important indicator about service quality during consultation. Dissatisfaction caused by short consultation time might result in patient’s complaint. However, the complaint behaviors are affected by many factors. In this study, we tested the influence of attribution of short consultation time on the complaint responses. At the same time, we also tested the influence of two important factors, dissatisfaction intensity and dependence on the attribution of short consultation time. Patients who attended the otolaryngologic outpatient clinic at Taichung Veterans General Hospital in June of 2004 were collected. They were asked about the experience of visiting physicians at Taichung Veterans General Hospital within the last 2 years. If they had ever encountered that the consultation time was too short for their visit, they were asked to recall the most impressed one and answer the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of four parts. The first part asked about the satisfaction of that consultation. Dissatisfaction intensity was measured as eight statements to capture expectations and perceptions associated with the service quality supplied by the physician at the consultation which the patient considered to be too short. The second part asked the patient’s responses to that consultation. The responses were classified into exit, voicing to the third party, privately voicing and passive acceptance. The third part asked the patient’s attribution of that short consultation. The attribution was classified into health system, hospitals, physicians and patients. The fourth part asked the patient’s dependence level on the physician. Regression analysis was used to test the relationship between dissatisfaction intensity as well as dependence and attribution. In the next step, the relationship between the attribution and patient’s responses was also tested. There were 200 effective questionnaires collected in this study. As patient’s dissatisfaction increased, they were more likely to attribute the short consultation time to physicians. Furthermore, when they blamed physicians, they were more likely to respond with exit, voicing to the third party and privately voicing. However, these results were reversed by patient’s dependence on physicians. Therefore, we concluded that if physicians spent too short time at the consultation, it was more likely to result in patient’s complaint about physicians themselves with those responses which damaged the relationship between physicians and patients.