Table 1.
Description of the Interpersonal Processes of Care (IPC-29)
| Scales/subdomains | How frequently… |
|---|---|
| 1. Communication | |
| Hurried communication (−) | Doctors are hard to understand, ignored patient’s concerns, were bothered by patient’s questions, or distracted |
| Lack of clarity (−) | Doctors spoke quickly/used complex words |
| Hurried, distracted (−) | Doctors ignored patient’s concerns, were distracted or bothered |
| Elicited concerns, responded (+) | Doctors heard patient’s concerns and took them seriously |
| Explained results, meds (+) | Doctors explained results and medications |
| Explained results (+) | Doctors explained tests and physical examination results |
| Explained medications (+) | Doctors explained what would happen without the medicines and their side effects |
| 2. Decision Making | |
| Patient-centered decision making (+) | Doctors asked patient and worked out treatment together |
| Asked patient (+) | Doctors asked about patient’s difficulties to follow up recommendations |
| Decided together (+) | Doctors asked patient’s preferences about treatment and worked out together treatment plan |
| 3. Interpersonal Style | |
| Compassionate, respectful (+) | Doctors provided emotional support, were compassionate and respectful |
| Emotional support, comp (+) | Doctors were compassionate and expressed concern about patient’s feelings |
| Respectful (+) | Doctors respected and treated patient as an equal |
| Discrimination (−) | Doctors made assumptions or discriminated |
| Assumed socioeconomic status (−) | Doctors made assumptions about patient’s level of education or income |
| Discriminated due to race (−) | Patient perceived discrimination or inattentiveness of doctors due to patient’s race or ethnicity |
| Disrespectful office staff (−) | Office staff were negative or rude, gave patient a hard time, talked down to patient |
Domains are underlined, scales are in italic font, subdomains are indented