Patient-Centeredness during In-Depth Consultation in the Outpatient Clinic of a Tertiary Hospital in Korea: Paradigm Shift from Disease to Patient

Sohn, Kyoung-Hee; Nam, Sarah; Joo, Jungmin; Kwon, Yong Jin; Yim, Jae-Joon

On a scale of 1 to 10, the mean satisfaction score of participants in the in-depth consultation and control groups was 9.04 ± 1.30 and 7.62 ± 2.17, respectively (P < 0.001). Results of an analysis by consultation department were as follows: department of internal medicine: 9.27 vs. 7.47 ( △ 1.80), department of surgery: 8.79 vs. 7.44 ( △ 1.35), and department of pediatrics: 9.18 vs. 7.87 ( △ 1.31). Following in-depth consultation, the increase in patients' satisfaction was the highest in the department of internal medicine, followed by the departments of surgery and pediatrics, respectively. A subgroup analysis on 114 patients with serious and rare diseases according to ICD-10 codes revealed that satisfaction and willingness to recommend were significantly higher for those in the in-depth consultation group than for those in the control group, with scores of 9.11 and 9.14 on outpatient experience satisfaction and willingness to recommend, respectively.