Physicians' responses to patients: a study of factors involved in the office interview.

The emotional responses of a physician are an important determinant for the outcome of each patient encounter. This study examines how physician, patient, and problem characteristics influence the emotions of the physician. In a family medical center, 559 office visits were recorded by 13 residents and 3 staff physicians on an encounter sheet. The emotions studied were anxiety, frustration, interest, and comfort in dealing with problem and note of feelings at the end of the encounter. The physicians reported more anxiety and frustration, less interest and comfort, and a less satisfactory note at the end of the interview when they were junior residents, when they were dealing with psychosocial problems, or when seeing lower social-class patients. Age and sex of patients and time of day of interview were not important in determining the physicians' responses. In a situation involving junior residents dealing with psychosocial problems, awareness of the anxiety and frustration present should enable the teacher of family medicine to become more effective.