Information and Feedback in Professional Communication in a Medical Setting

Abstract

Good and effective communication is in the common interest of the interlocutor, especially in a medical setting, which creates a specific relationship of trust, and directly influences the outcomes of a medical treatment. The aim of this research is to evaluate the role of information in creating communication feedback in the clinical practice of physiotherapists. To analyse the communication feedback of physiotherapists, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire on 471 physiotherapists employed in 74 healthcare institutions in Croatia. The research hypothesis in this paper assumes that there are no differences in the assessment of communication feedback among physiotherapists with regard to age and years of experience. However, the results show that there are significant differences in the assessment of communication feedback among physiotherapists. This is an important finding, which underlines that an issue that cannot be solved by medical knowledge alone can be resolved by effective communication when combined with a certain technique and way of communicating.