The ideal family doctor - The patient's perspective

Abstract

Background: The physician-patient relation doesnt confine itself to the scientific / organic plane, since both the physician and the patient are physical beings with a psychological depth. This relation is central to therapeutic success, and is influenced by personal and behavioural characteristics of both the physician and the patient. Objective: To understand how patients from a Primary Care Center believe an ideal General Practitioner should be in terms of sociodemographic, physical appearance and behavioural characteristics. Type of study and Population: Descriptive transversal observational study using a convenience sample (n = 199) obtained from the population of patients of the Primary Care Centre of Póvoa de Santo Adrião,Vialonga extension, in Portugal. Methods: Application of a questionnaire for each of the personal interviews. Results and Conclusions: The majority of our sample gives importance to: a well-groomed appearance, the use of a white-coat, the use of simple language, the mastering the Portuguese language, the punctuality, the giving out of information in writing, the sharing of all information, the continuity of care throughout time and in different types of care. Most of the sample believes that the ideal medical appointment should last 11 - 30 minutes. Most patients dont have a preferential sex for the ideal General Practitioner; a substantial part of the female sample prefers a female General Practitioner; the majority of the sample doesnt have a preferential age for the ideal General Practitioner; the Portuguese patients tend to prefer Portuguese physicians; the patients from African Countries of Portuguese Official Language are mainly indifferent to the General Practitioners nationality. Generally, the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients dont interfere with their opinions on the characteristics of the ideal General Practitioner.