Abstract
BackgroundThe communication between health providers and patients influences the quality of medical care. The Communication Skills Assessment (CAT) is a reliable, validated tool, which was developed to assess interpersonal communication skills between physicians and patients. The purpose of this study was to obtain a Romanian version of the CAT (CAT_Ro), using a controlled and systematic process to translate and cross-culturally adapt the original questionnaire, since there are no validated instruments to assess healthcare professionals’ communication capability in Romania.MethodsThe study was conducted in two Departments of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology from Bucharest, Romania, using a rigorous scientific methodology for the translation process, according to literature recommendations, implicating conceptual evaluation, semantics, and cultural adaptation, which involved several steps. The updated version was pre-tested in a pilot study, which included 89 outpatients.ResultsThe results showed a narrow range of variability in item interpretation, without differences in patients’ responses according to variables such as age, gender, education, disease type, number of previous visits with the same doctor.ConclusionCAT-Ro is the result of a comprehensive process study. It represents the first translation and cultural adaptation in Romanian of an instrument able to assess the health providers’ communication skills, which was validated in a pilot study and is to be used in more extensive studies with patients from several specialties.
Highlights
The communication between health providers and patients influences the quality of medical care
The process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Communication Skills Assessment (CAT) in Romanian was performed according to internationally accepted and recommended guidelines of International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome Research (ISPOR), data from international literature, and recommendations made by the World Health Organization (WHO) about the process of translation and adaptation of instruments [23,24,25]
The questionnaire was administered by two doctors who were not involved in the patients care and who acted as interview operators
Summary
The communication between health providers and patients influences the quality of medical care. Communication between health professionals contributes substantially to the quality of medical services and increases patients’ adherence to treatment, among other benefits. In addition to professional training and scientific approach, the doctor has the social role of the healer. In this position, some communication skills play a crucial role: displaying respect, understanding, and interest for the patient and his suffering, exercising patience, compassion and interest in patients’ ideas and concerns related to own health [1, 2]. Empathy mediates effective communication around health and contributes to increasing the quality and effectiveness of the medical act [3]. The doctor-patient relationship dynamic has changed once the concept of “shared decision” between the doctor and the patient has become widespread [4]
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