BACKGROUND: The main objective of the present paper is to evaluate the satisfaction levels with the physician-patient relationship (PPR) practiced at a health care unit of Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil. Interviews were carried out right after patients' dismissal from the "Fundação Hospital Estadual do Acre". METHODS: Descriptive and analytical analyses were performed. Fifty patients 18 to 50 years of age were studied. Semi-structured questionnaires were used. Patients with altered states of consciousness, mental deficiency or verbal communication impairment and those who were not willing to participate in the research were excluded. Descriptive data were appraised for SPSS®. RESULTS: Sixty-four percent of the patients (32/50) believe that the physician- patient relationship interferes with patients' improvement; Seventy percent (35/50) evaluated their physician-patient relationship as satisfactory and seventy two percent (36/50) considered positive, the attention received from physicians. Albeit results are in accordance with the cultural expectations, further research on this subject is recommended. CONCLUSIONS: the satisfaction with PPR, showed association with the variables related to the personal form of communication practiced between physicians and patients.
Physician-patient relationship; Ethics; Bioethics; Evaluation of physician- patient relationship; Humanization
