The patient-clinician interaction has been consistently reported as a critical aspect affecting patient satisfaction with health care (Hirsh et al 2005, May 2000, Sheppard et al 2010). A previous review (Hall et al 1988) showed associations

between specific communication factors used by clinicians interacting with patients and satisfaction with care, although the evidence is now old selleck inhibitor and did not include physiotherapy settings. Communication used by clinicians during their interaction with patients varies along a continuum from patient’s autonomy to clinician’s paternalism (Abdel-Tawab and Roter 2002). Communication factors aligned with clinician What is already known on this topic: Patient satisfaction with health care, including physiotherapy, is related to the BTK signaling inhibitor quality of the interaction with the clinician, the quality of the treatment approach used, and happiness with clinical

outcomes after treatment. What this study adds: Many communication factors are also consistently associated with patients’ ratings of satisfaction with care. Factors such as increasing the length of the consultation and showing interest in the patient and caring could be used by physiotherapists to improve patient satisfaction with physiotherapy management. Previous reviews have investigated the association between patient satisfaction with care and communication factors using these patient-centred care and shared decision-making approaches in primary first care

and rehabilitation settings (Beck et al 2002, Hall et al 1988). However, the magnitude of the association between communication factors and satisfaction is not usually reported (Beck et al 2002, Hall et al 1988) and this prevents the quantitative identification and ranking of potentially modifiable communication factors supporting interactions valuing patient autonomy. Of note, randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews investigating the effectiveness of theory-based training of communication skills (eg, patient-centred care and shared decision-making) reported no effect on clinical outcomes such as satisfaction with care and health status (Brown et al 1999, Edwards et al 2004, Uitterhoeve et al 2010). It is likely that the identification of modifiable factors that are correlated with satisfaction could potentially form the basis for evidence-based interventions for communication skills training, and inform the design of future randomised controlled trials. Moreover, there is a need for these reviews to be updated as additional observational studies (Daaleman and Mueller 2004, Gilbert and Hayes 2009, Graugaard et al 2005, Haskard et al 2009) investigating communication factors have been published since the last systematic review was conducted.