Relationship of Physicians' Rapport with Patients' Satisfaction and Psychological Well-being During Hospitalization

Objective The purpose of this study was to assess the association between the psychological well-being and satisfaction of patients with physicians during their hospitalization. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at a local hospital using the following surveys: Brief Inventory of Thriving (BIT), tool to assess inpatient satisfaction with care from hospitalists (TAISCH) survey, and Erlanger Internal Patient satisfaction survey addressing demographic questions and questions on physicians' quality of care and etiquette. Mixed linear regression models were created to examine the effect of psychological well-being on patient satisfaction. Models were adjusted for age, race, and gender, and all analyses were performed in R 3.1.1 using the 'lme4' package with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Results A total of 360 patients were enrolled in this analysis and the mean age of the cohort was 54.5 years. In the unadjusted analysis, each unit increase in BIT score was associated with a 0.3% (95% CI: 0.19-0.4, p<0.001) increase in mean satisfaction score using the five-domain questionnaire and a 0.25% (95% CI: 0.16-0.34, p<0.01) increase in mean satisfaction score using the TAISCH questionnaire. Multivariable models, after adjusting confounding variables, also showed the direct and statistically significant relationship between patients' level of psychological well-being and patient satisfaction. Each unit increase in BIT score was associated with a 0.31% (95% CI: 0.20-0.43, p<0.001) and 0.26% (95% CI: 0.17-0.36, p<0.001) increase in mean satisfaction scores across the five-domain questionnaire and TAISCH questionnaire. Conclusions There is a positive correlation between the level of patients' psychological well-being and satisfaction with his/her physician with a statistical significance. With patient-specific strategies, we can further improve patient rapport with their physicians, resulting in positive patient outcomes.