Psychological Research and Patient-Practitioner Interaction The work of Like and Zyzanski (2002) reports that patient-practitioner transactions in the ambulatory setting have gained in importance in the research as there is "empirical support for our anecdotal, common-sense notions that clinical encounter experiences are a major determinant of outcomes such as the patient's satisfaction with the encounter. The study is reported to examine the issue of patient-physician encounter and asks the questions of: 1) Is there a relationship between fulfillment of patient requests for services and patient satisfaction with the clinical encounter? And (2) What degree of satisfaction is explained by the qualities of the encounter as compared to the characteristics of the patient, physician, and system of health care? (Like and Zyzanski, 2002) A study of 144 adult patients and their physicians was conducted and it is reported "at least 19% of the variance in patient satisfaction could be attributed to request fulfillment." (Like and Zyzanski, 2002)

Case Study 2

The work of Kaplan, Greenfield, and Ware (1989) entitled "Assessing the Effects of Physician-Patient Interactions on the Outcomes of Chronic Disease" reports having conducted four clinical trials in varied practice settings among "chronically ill patients differing markedly in sociodemographic characteristics." Findings of the studies reported included that "better health measured physiologically (blood pressure or blood sugar)...