Assessing eye care professionals communication skills and the effects it has on patients

Abstract

Background: The difficulty that is currently rising in the health care profession and in education is the improvement and acceptance of communication skills. There are several contributing elements to this issue, including the structure of health care itself and the population's heavy reliance on technology and the internet. In the health care system, testing for skills and competency is a significant focus of training, and communication skills are frequently not given much weight. Aim: to evaluate the usefulness of the doctor-patient communication questionnaire among eye care professionals and to evaluate the communication skills of eye care professionals. Methodology: Observational research was conducted. From January 2020 to May 2020, the study was conducted at the Sankara Academy of Vision (SAV) section of the Sankara Eye Hospital in Ludhiana. The DPC questionnaire was used in the study to evaluate the eye care professional and patient communication. The study sequentially included all of the physicians, optometrists, interns, and patients. Analysing the patients' experiences with care quality allowed for an evaluation of the outcome. Results: In this study, we discovered that there was a significant effect observed in those with good communication skills, i.e., p value is 0.001 (result is significant at p0.05) for both definite & possible sample, indicating that Good Communication Skills are required between Eye Care Professionals and Patients for Better Diagnosis. Conclusion: The results of the current study demonstrated that eye care professionals with strong communication skills produce improved patient satisfaction and more accurate diagnoses. The study's findings showed that a higher proportion of patients (about 66%) were pleased with the eye care professionals' communication abilities.