BATHE Consultation Model and Patients' Satisfaction: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial among Adults with Chronic Illness in a Tertiary Health Facility in North-Central Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION

BATHE is a consultation model mnemonic that stands for Background, Affect, Trouble, Handling, and Empathy. It is gaining fame in medicine because it offers person-centered care in time constrained setting and does not interfere with the physicians' ability to see large number of patients in a given day. We investigated the satisfaction scores of patients with chronic illnesses using BATHE model and the usual care (Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan, SOAP) model in a busy family medicine clinic.

METHODS

It was a randomized control trial that involved 104 patients aged 18-65 years on follow-up for chronic illnesses. All consenting patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected and randomly allocated to each study arm of 52 participants. The control arm received usual care model only while the intervention arm received BATHE method in addition.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed a higher patient's satisfaction among patients with BATHE consultation model than those in the Usual care model only (73.1% vs. 53.8%; p=0.042) at baseline. After eight weeks of the baseline, a follow-up trial using the two models still produced a higher patients' satisfaction in 'BATHE' consultation by a size of 28.8% (86.5%; 57.7%; p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

The intervention model raised patients' satisfaction more than the control method. This study demonstrated a positive effect of BATHE consultation model on patients with chronic illness in spite of cultural differences. Hence, physicians should be encouraged to use BATHE technique in their consultations in order to improve patients' quality of care.