COMPASSION SATISFACTION OF PHYSICIANS AND ITS IMPACT ON PATIENT CONSULTATION SATISFACTION IN OUTDOOR MEDICAL PATIENTS: A CROSS SECTIONAL ANALYTICAL APPROACH

Abstract

Background: Physicians' compassion satisfaction can have positive impact on patient care, however, its association with patients' consultation satisfaction is not well explored in Pakistan. To find out the relationship between Physicians Compass Satisfaction and the Patients Satisfaction with Consultation in the Out Patient Department of District Teaching Hospital Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Materials and Methods: The study was Cross Sectional descriptive study, conducted in the Medicine and Allied outpatient department from 5th March 2024 to 5th March 2025. Following the ethical approval, 10 qualified physicians were chosen using simple random sampling and patients who had chronic medical conditions were recruited. The Compassion Satisfaction Subscale of the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL-5) was used to measure the physicians' compassion satisfaction, and the Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) was adopted to measure the patients' satisfaction of consultation. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 22 through the process of self-administered questionnaires and structured interviews. The criteria for statistical significance were set as p < 0.05. Results: Moderate and significant positive association was found between physicians compassion satisfaction and patients consultation satisfaction (r = .597, p = .009). Regression analysis was significant (F(1,13) = 7.216, p = .019), explaining 35.7% of the variance. Conclusions: Compassion satisfaction was positively correlated with patient satisfaction with the consultations, suggesting a need for physicians to take care of their emotional health to enhance patient–physician interactions.