Consumer satisfaction with antipsychotic medication-monitoring appointments: the role of consumer–prescriber communication patterns

Abstract

Objective: The study was designed to explore patterns of prescriber communication behaviors as they relate to consumer satisfaction among a serious mental illness sample.

Methods: Recordings from 175 antipsychotic medication-monitoring appointments between veterans with psychiatric disorders and their prescribers were coded using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS) for communication behavioral patterns.

Results: The frequency of prescriber communication behaviors (i.e., facilitation, rapport, procedural, psychosocial, biomedical, and total utterances) did not reliably predict consumer satisfaction. The ratio of prescriber to consumer utterances did predict consumer satisfaction.

Conclusions: Consistent with client-centered care theory, antipsychotic medication consumers were more satisfied with their encounters when their prescriber did not dominate the conversation.

Practice implications: Therefore, one potential recommendation from these findings could be for medication prescribers to spend more of their time listening to, rather than speaking with, their SMI consumers.

Keywords:

• Provider-patient communication
• prescriber communication
• serious mental illness
• patient satisfaction
• consumer satisfaction
• client-centered care

Acknowledgements

This work reflects the authors’ personal views and in no way represents the official view of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. Government.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Merit Award (IIR-07-256) to J.A.K. It is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the VISN 5 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC). E.A.K.’s time was supported by a VA Rehabilitation R&D Career Development Award (1IK2RX001836).