The effects of physicien attire on consultation outcomes in primary health care, National Guard, Riyadh

Abstract

Introduction A good Physician- patient relationship is the core of a successful primary health care. It is characterized by a two way interactions between the physician and the patient, where the patient is involved in the decision making(1) . The relationship between the physician and the patient can interfere significantly with the treatment adherence(2) . So it is necessary for the physician to work on building and preserving a good relationship from the first moment. The first impression is important to optimize healthcare outcomes(3) . Physician appearances, gender, nationality, age, speech and posture were found to affect patient’s first impression(3) . Also, it is found that once the first impression been developed, it will remain unchanged – most of the times- (3) . Gender preferences found to increase patient satisfaction in some settings(4) . For the intimate, and psychosocial issues, it is found to be preferred to have a physician of the same gender as a patient (4) . For the age preference, some studies found that patients preferred the physician to be between 30- 50 years (5) . Physician appearances is also an important factor affecting patient perception of the care provided (1)