[Barriers to verbal communication and consumer satisfaction with consultations in general medicine].

With the objective of knowing the barriers to verbal communication experienced by general practice users, and their satisfaction with the information received, a sample of 1553 adults (> 14 years old), users of the Basque Health Service general practice services, was interviewed. A questionnaire of 13 questions, administered after the consultation, was employed. The most frequently experienced barrier was the lack of written information, that affected to a 77.7% of those interviewed. This percentage is greater (p < 0.005) among those visiting traditional doctors (81.9%), than among those enrolled with primary care teams (72.4%) or rural doctors (70.0%). Those who were given written information left out the consultation more satisfied than the others (p < 0.001). The provision of written information seems to be related to the user's satisfaction. It is advised to modify the doctors' attitude towards the communicative process with their patients.