The current situation of doctor communication with patients and related factors in outpatient department, Gia Dinh People hospital, 2021

Objective: We measured behavior and some factors affecting doctor–patient communication at Gia Dinh People Hospital in 2021. Methods: A cross sectional design used and combine quantitative and qualitative method. The study observed 288 turn communication between doctors and patients during medical examination at outpatient department and in-depth interviewed with 10 health workers from March to June 2021. Main findings: The average point of one time doctors-patients communication was observed to be 1.53/2 points. The content E - Explanation had the highest average score (1.93/2 points). Contents as I – Introduction and T – Thanks had the lowest average scores (1.04 and 1.05/2 points). The factors influenced in a positive way doctors-patients communication such as gender, age of the doctors and patients, title and seniority of the doctors; Psychological factors in doctors and patients both positive and negative effected doctors-patients communication. Working environment, number of working hours, number of patients per day, salary were also recorded as influencing in a negative doctors-patients communication. Conclusions: The behavior of doctors-patients communication at Gia Dinh People Hospital in 2021 was average (<80%). The communication process had seen to be affecting by many factors from the doctors and the patients. Proactive measures taken by the hospital to improve communication skills of health workers increase patient satisfaction and quality of service delivery at the hospital. Keywords: behavior, communication doctors-patient, Gia Dinh People Hospital