Alkhamees, Mohammad

Lea, Jackie

Islam, Md Shahidul

Alasqah, Ibrahim

Alzghaibi, Haitham

Alharbi, Mohammad F

Albejaidi, Fahad

Mughal, Yasir Hayat

Parker, Vicki

2023-01-01

<p>(1) Background: Communication is the main issue between the patient and physician. Communication gaps lead to medical errors, mistakes, and wrong diagnoses and treatments. It would certainly be a cause of patient dissatisfaction, the physicians’ job dissatisfaction, and the increase in the cost of health services. (2) Objectives: The objective of the study was to explore the perception of Saudi patients when they meet non-Saudi consultants at hospitals. (3) Material and Methods: This study is exploratory in nature. Semi-structured face to face interviews were conducted. Study participants were patients from the outpatient department of the Hospitals of Qassim province, Saudi Arabia. A total of eight respondents, four male and four female, participated in the study. (4) Results: Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Two main themes emerged: the first theme is encountering difference, with three sub-themes, while the second one is the absence of partnering, with four sub-themes. (5) Conclusions: The analysis of the patients’ experiences of their medical encounters revealed that the effectiveness of the physician-patient communication was jeopardized by two challenges: encountering differences and the absence of partnering. (6) Limitations: This study was conducted in one site only and hence findings must be tested in application to other sites in other parts of Saudi Arabia and in other similar countries. A further limitation of this study was the cultural barrier that was encountered by the researcher during the interview process.</p>

Healthcare, 11(1), p. 1-22

2227-9032

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/56279

en

MDPI AG

Attribution 4.0 International

A Qualitative Investigation of Factors Affecting Saudi Patients’ Communication Experience with Non-Saudi Physicians in Saudi Arabia

Journal Article

Publication