R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Physician-Patient Communication

Excerpt

To the Editors:—Feeling respected by one’s physician is the single most powerful predictor of patients’ overall rating of their physicians, according to Quigley’s welcome study1 of the CG-CAHPS Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Clinician and Group large sample of survey data and Frosch’s and Tai-Seale’s thoughtful editorial.2 In reply to the editors’ question 'how does one show respect to patients?', we offer the skills model and training materials published in 'Treating and precepting with RESPECT; a relational model addressing race, ethnicity and culture in medical training'.3 We developed RESPECT because our work as clinicians and educators at an inner city safety net hospital identified essential elements for building trust with patients from backgrounds that differed greatly in culture or power status from their providers. Accumulating data regarding communication disparities further supported these components. RESPECT has received recognition for its contribution to cultural competence scholarship and pedagogy4 because it addresses power and difference to build trust with patients at risk for disparities. …