의사의 청진기 진찰과 환자의 부정적 감정 경험과의 관계

Purpose: This study is to examine patients`` experiences of negative emotions during auscultation and to find out the reasons for the patients`` emotional experiences and differences according to gender and obesity. Methods: Questionnaire was administrated to two hundred adults. The questionnaire consists of items asking the respondents whether they have experienced negative emotions during a stethoscope examination, and what caused the emotions. Results: More than half of the respondents (69%) said that they have experienced negative emotions during auscultation, and the most frequently mentioned reason (64.5%) for their negative emotion was their discomfort of exposing their body. For those with no negative emotion, said that they (61.3%) did not have negative emotion because they believed that the auscultation was necessary. Many of them (51.6%) said that the reason why they did not feel uncomfortable was that their doctor had explained well the purpose of using a stethoscope. Women and those who experienced negative emotion preferred the same gender of a doctor for auscultation (p=0.00, p=0.006, respectively). In addition, obese people experienced negative emotion more than normal weight people (p=0.017). Conclusion: The results show that physicians need to understand the fact that using auscultation could cause patients discomfort and negative emotions. Many of those respondents who were given sufficient explanation about the purpose of using a stethoscope by their doctors were less likely to feel negative emotions. To prevent patients from feeling unnecessary discomfort and to enhance doctor-patient relationship, physicians need to learn to become a competent communicator.