ABSTRACT
Over 30 years ago, Barbara Korsch’s (Korsch, Gozzi, & Francis, 1968) seminal work on patient satisfaction within the domain of the patient-provider encounter set the agenda for research on the interaction between patient-provider communication and patient outcomes. A plethora of studies have since provided substantial evidence on the interaction. These studies have moved beyond issues of patient satisfaction to include evidence on patient physiological outcomes (Greenfield, Kaplan, & Ware, 1985; Kaplan, Greenfield, & Ware, 1989), improvements in patient adherence (Garrity, 1981; Golin, DiMatteo, & Gelberg, 1996), and the impact of poor communication on provider malpractice complaints (Beckman, Markakis, Suchman, & Frankel, 1994; Lester & Smith, 1993). Relevant research findings include serendipitous results from studies not exclusively designed to explore the patient-provider interaction, as described later in this chapter (Headache Study Group, 1986).
