Doctor-patient communication: A skill needed in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Doctor-patient communication is a skill essential for the satisfaction of the patients' needs and expectations. It involves an art that every practicing physician should have. The situations in health care delivery that demands good doctor-patient communication are many. Diabetes care, the management of hypertension, explaining serious disease diagnoses, prognosis, and investigative procedures are some of the common situations where good doctor-patient communication is very essential. Doctor-patient communication assumes a special status in Saudi Arabia where as a result of mixed ethnicity of the manpower in the health service and the expatriate community, there is a vast diversity of languages, health traditions and beliefs. The skill of doctor-patient communication can be developed and improved by the application of the principles of the patient-centered approach, the utilization of patient-oriented evidence that matters, and its inclusion in the undergraduate curriculum in the first few years of medical school. There should be continuous medical education programs for practicing doctors on the skills of doctor-patient communication through seminars and workshops. This would be a further step towards the improvement of the consumer's well-being.