Factors that Impact Patient Satisfaction and Perceptions in Patient-Physician Interactions in Canada: A Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction: With a publicly funded health care system, the drivers and practices to measure quality of care and patient satisfaction in Canada are unique. This study attempts to investigate the current factors influencing patient satisfaction and perceptions of patient-physician interactions, specifically in Canada.

Methods: A literature review of the existing studies was conducted by searching through five databases including Scopus, Pubmed, Web of Science, JSTOR, and ProQuest. After the input of a consistent list of keywords into each database, records were screened and assessed for eligibility. The final chosen articles were analyzed for trends and inconsistencies.

Results: Twelve articles were eligible and selected for the final analysis. The factors covered in these articles covered themes such as the digitalization of healthcare, time constraints, patient attributes, and physician attributes. Most studies were qualitative in nature, providing little to no correlational quantitative findings.

Discussion: A physician’s attitude towards computer use has been positively correlated with the patient’s preference of physicians using computers in the office. Time constraints were not correlated with patient perceptions of quality of care and interactions with their emergency physicians in a statistically significant manner. Physician general communication behaviors such as answering questions and a caring attitude have been positively correlated with patient perceptions of their physician’s end-of-life communication skills. All other factors mentioned in the results were only described in qualitative interviews.

Conclusion: Overall, future studies should focus on replicating the existing quantitative studies in different Canadian provinces and across different medical specialties. In addition, qualitatively gathered potential factors should be examined in a more structured and statistically supported manner. The existing factors and those explored in future studies can offer an opportunity for the improvement of quality of care and health outcomes in Canada.