Modeling the patient-physician service encounter: improving patient outcomes

Physician service encounters are different as they involve (1) one-on-one interactions, (2) frequent encounters with the same physician, (3) intimate exchanges, (4) substantial variability across encounters, and (5) require patient cooperation to achieve successful health outcomes. These aspects may increase patient reliance on interpersonal elements of the encounter to drive satisfaction (Gronroos 1982). These interpersonal elements may also encourage compliance with medical advice. This study develops and tests a model demonstrating how interpersonal elements, as well as communication and participation, contribute to positive outcomes using multiple samples. Results support interactions among these variables contributing to patient satisfaction and compliance. Results also support the role of interpersonal interactions in repatronization and recommendation, although these relationships vary depending on sample characteristics.