072 -- How Provider-Patient Interactions Influence Patient Experiences

The interaction between a patient and a provider is crucial to the success of any medical or healthcare appointment. It often goes overlooked, and there is more of a focus on the provider correctly diagnosing and treating the patient. Although patients will remember the success of being properly diagnosed and treated for an illness, what truly stands out is the way the interaction went. This ethnographic research project focuses on provider-patient interactions from the patient’s perspective, and how those interactions shaped their experiences. The goal of this study was to better understand the interactions between patients and providers and the overall patient experience. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, data was collected from college students at SUNY Geneseo about their patient experiences and interactions with providers. Based on the results, this research argues that the interaction a patient has with their provider influences their overall satisfaction with the experience, that the provider believing the patient is important to the success of the encounter, and finally that providers and patients should have an equal power dynamic, as one exerting more power than the other does not produce beneficial interactions or experiences. This study provides a unique perspective on how patients feel based on their lived experiences, which can offer direction for future improvements to the patient-provider interactions that take place within healthcare systems.