International patient preferences for physician attire: results from cross-sectional studies in four countries across three continents.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The patient-physician relationship impacts patients' experiences and health outcomes. Physician attire is a form of nonverbal communication that influences this relationship. Prior studies examining attire preferences suffered from heterogeneous measurement and limited context. We thus performed a multicentre, cross-sectional study using a standardised survey instrument to compare patient preferences for physician dress in international settings.

Setting

20 hospitals and healthcare practices in Italy, Japan, Switzerland and the USA.

Participants

Convenience sample of 9171 adult patients receiving care in academic hospitals, general medicine clinics, specialty clinics and ophthalmology practices.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

The survey was ra

SUBMITTER: Houchens N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9535197 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature