Department of Healthcare Marketing and Medical Technology, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania.
Department of Oncological Surgery, Oncological Institute Prof. Dr. Al. Trestioreanu, Bucharest, Romania.
J Med Life. 2022 May;15(5):655-660. doi: 10.25122/jml-2022-0098.
In an increasingly competitive health care market, family physicians have to elaborate and implement new strategies to attract potential patients. A useful and powerful method is word-of-mouth (WOM) because it shapes the consumers' attitudes and behaviours. Based on the recommendations of actual consumers, potential health care patients choose their family physicians. The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of WOM in family medicine and determine the key factors in recommending a certain family physician. The sample consisted of 338 patients under the supervision of a family physician, and the instrument for collecting data was a self-administered questionnaire. The findings revealed that the most important factors in spreading WOM are the communication skills and the expertise of the family physician. In addition, for patients between 27-33 years and 41-47 years, expertise is an absolute skill, whereas, for the health care consumers between 21 and 26 years, communication skills are essential in spreading WOM. Further, WOM becomes relevant in the family physician's activity as it may contribute to the delivery of value and in building sustainable physician-patient relationships.
在竞争日益激烈的医疗保健市场中，家庭医生必须制定和实施新策略来吸引潜在患者。口碑（WOM）是一种有用且强大的方法，因为它可以塑造消费者的态度和行为。基于实际消费者的推荐，潜在的医疗保健患者选择他们的家庭医生。本研究旨在调查口碑在家庭医学中的有用性，并确定推荐特定家庭医生的关键因素。样本由 338 名在家庭医生监督下的患者组成，收集数据的工具是一份自我管理的问卷。调查结果表明，口碑传播最重要的因素是家庭医生的沟通技巧和专业知识。此外，对于 27-33 岁和 41-47 岁的患者，专业知识是一项绝对的技能，而对于 21-26 岁的医疗保健消费者，沟通技巧在口碑传播中至关重要。此外，口碑在家庭医生的活动中变得很重要，因为它有助于提供价值并建立可持续的医患关系。
