Doctors' Communication Skills in Military Hospitals–A Critical Analysis

Objective: To assess the level of communication skills of doctors in military hospitals and compare their own and patient perceptions. We also aimed to determine factors affecting doctors' communication skills and suggest recommendations for improving doctors' communication skills. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: CMH Lahore, CMH Gujranwala and CMH Chunian and Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi, from Oct 2016 to Jun 2017. Methodology: Through non-probability consecutive sampling, questionnaires were distributed to 100 physicians and 100 patients inquiring about various aspects of doctors' communication skills and factors affecting them. Results: Doctors were asked to judge the overall level of their communication skills, and more than half of them (53%) opined that their communication skills were very good. However, the perception of doctors' communication skills was better by doctors themselves compared to patients' perception. More than half of the doctors strongly agreed that increased workload, use of the hospital management system and extra commitments were major impediments to effective communication skills. Conclusion: The perception about the communication skills of doctors is not as high as that of the doctors themselves. There is a striking disparity between the physicians' and patient responses. The communication skills of doctors can be improved by formal training of physicians in the form of workshops. In addition, the workload on doctors should be reduced by minimizing extra commitments.