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This study formulates a new archetypical model that describes and re-interprets the patient–physician relationship from the perspective of two widespread phenomena in the healthcare delivery process: value co-creation (VCC) and defensive medicine (DM).

Grounded in the existing literature on VCC and DM, the authors designed and conducted 20 in-depth interviews with doctors (and patients) about their past relationships with patients (and doctors). After putting the recorded interviews through qualitative analysis with a three-level coding activity, the authors built an empirically informed model to classify patient–physician relationships.

The authors identified four archetypes of patient–physician relationships. Each archetype is described along with its representing characteristics and explained in terms of its consequences as they relate to VCC and DM.

This research contributes to the literature on both VCC in healthcare and DM, in addition to the patient–physician's relationship literature.

Being aware of patient–physician relationship mechanics, building long-term relations with patients and investing in service personalization and patient-centred care can effectively mitigate the risks of DM behaviours on one side while increasing the likelihood of VCC actualization on the other.

Although strictly linked to the interactions between patients and doctors, VCC and DM are typically considered disentangled. In this research paper, the authors identified four archetypes of patient–physician relationships in relation to these two phenomena.

Effectively engaging patients is critical for the sustainable development of online health communities (OHCs). Although physicians’ general knowledge-sharing, which is free to the public, represents essential resources of OHCs that have been shown to promote patient engagement, little is known about whether such knowledge-sharing can backfire when superfluous knowledge-sharing is perceived as overwhelming and anxiety-provoking. Thus, this study aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the role of general knowledge-sharing in OHCs by exploring the spillover effects of the depth and breadth of general knowledge-sharing on patient engagement.

The research model is established based on a knowledge-based view and the literature on knowledge-sharing in OHCs. Then the authors test the research model and associated hypotheses with objective data from a leading OHC.

Although counterintuitive, the findings revealed an inverted U-shape relationship between general knowledge-sharing (depth and breadth of knowledge-sharing) and patient engagement that is positively associated with physicians’ number of patients. Specifically, the positive effects of depth and breadth of general knowledge-sharing increase and then decrease as the quantity of general knowledge-sharing grows. In addition, physicians’ offline and online professional status negatively moderated these curvilinear relationships.

This study further enriches the literature on knowledge-sharing and the operations of OHCs from a novel perspective while also offering significant specific implications for OHCs practitioners.

Several trends such as improved access to health care information via the internet, the growth of self‐help groups and expenditure on alternative medicine signals consumers are taking an active role in their own health management. Chronic illnesses such as diabetes and asthma require a significant amount of self‐management and thus call for a collaborative patient‐physician relationship. This study explores whether empowering patient‐physician consultations measured through three patient empowerment dimensions (patient control, patient participation, physician support) enhance patients trust in and commitment to their physician.

A comprehensive mail survey of adults registered with one of four different chronic illness associations in Australia was conducted to collect the data.

The structural equation modelling results show that patients are more trusting of and committed to physicians who adopt an empowering communication style with them.

This study focuses on the Australian healthcare context. Thus, future multinational studies should explore suitable strategies to empower healthcare consumers that build on the constraints placed by diverse healthcare systems.

In a managed health care and cost cutting climate where patient trust is deteriorating, these findings suggest that empowering patients presents a means to improve the patient‐physician relationship.

Whilst numerous marketing scholars have researched the empowerment of staff, there is a shortage of studies that address the meaning and outcomes of consumer empowerment. This study proposes a unique communication based consumer empowerment construct which is shown to impact on consumer‐service provider relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how patient assessment of primary care physician (PCP) communication is related to patient satisfaction with the PCP, patient perception of PCP professional competence, patient assessment of the relationship with the doctor and patient demographic characteristics using a segmentation approach.

The authors surveyed 514 adult patients waiting for appointments with their PCPs in two US primary care clinics. A latent class analysis was used to identify mutually exclusive unobserved homogeneous classes of patients.

The authors identified three distinct classes/groups with regard to patient assessment of physician communication and the physician-patient relationship. The largest group (53 percent of the sample) assessed their PCP communication and other doctor-patient relationship aspects as excellent. However, 37 percent provided mostly negative assessments, expressed high general dissatisfaction with the physician and disagreed with the statement that their PCP was well qualified to manage their health problems. These patients were on average more educated and affluent and the group included more males. About 10 percent of patients expressed generally lower satisfaction with the PCP, though their dissatisfaction was not as extreme as in the highly dissatisfied group.

Further studies are needed to help physicians develop skills to communicate with different patients.

Patient segmentation can be an important tool for healthcare quality improvement particularly for emerging approaches to primary care such as patient-centered care.

Chapter X of The Social System is often cited as the “charter” for the specialty field of medical sociology. A notable feature of its analysis is the argument that the physician is an agent of social control in relation to the patient. This argument grounds the application to medical practice of Parsons’ general conception that social control is an aspect of all social relationships. Parsons started by addressing the situation of a patient who assumes the sick role and then becomes the patient of a physician. The sick role involves a suspension of at least some of the performance expectations associated with a person's everyday social life, such as expectations of working productively at one's job, attending the meeting of a civic association, or caring for one's family members. But in assuming the sick role, an individual encounters new expectations that he or she should try to get well. For minor illnesses this may involve only resting, drinking fluids, and avoiding stress. For more serious illnesses, given our culture's valuation of scientific medicine, it typically involves placing oneself in the care of a physician. It then becomes the physician's duty to offer treatment and guidance to restore one's health and enable one to return to meet expectations of everyday roles. Thus the physician becomes an agent of social control.

The ubiquity of the internet has extended immense informational power to patients around the world who previously had abysmal knowledge about the disease they are suffering from. With a large amount of information in their hands, these educated and well-informed patients are cultivating deeper relationships and engagement with their physicians through meaningful interactions. This study aims to investigate the influence of patients’ internet usage and their interactions on their intentions to revisit and foster relationships with their physicians.

A survey-based questionnaire was administered at four government hospitals in Pune, involving a sample size of 400. The study intends to use structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine the hypothesized relationships identified within the research analysis.

The findings of this study indicate that patients report higher levels of satisfaction and intention to revisit when they have a strong interaction with their physician.

This study provides valuable inputs to the hospital authorities and health-care-related policy makers. This study also contributes to the overall body of literature on health care information system, behavioural aspects of patients and doctors as well as other health-care-related staffs in hospitals.

The study adds values to the overall body of literature for both hospital information system, patient interaction and health care policy. To date, no research has examined the association between patient–physician interactions conducted through internet channels and subsequent behavioural intentions. Moreover, the study investigates the behavioural aspects of patients and health-care staffs, which adds value towards the body of knowledge in the extant literature.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a research framework for exploring and improving patient empowerment through the analysis of the effects produced by a satisfying physician relationship on patient involvement in the healthcare process.

The authors begin with a literature review of patient empowerment in healthcare, useful to highlight the importance of relational aspects. Then, the authors tested the hypotheses of the research through the analysis of 450 questionnaires. The results are analyzed through covariance-based structural equation modeling.

This paper highlights how empowerment is a more complex phenomenon, needing many dimensions to be investigated. The hypotheses were tested, and correlations computed, highlighting a medium-strong positive correlation between physician relationship and patient involvement determining satisfying patient empowerment.

The considerations conducted in the paper are restricted to physician relationship and needs further research aimed to analyze and evaluate the changes in the patient behaviors influenced by empowerment.

The research points offer new insight into patient empowerment and allow the healthcare provider to create new opportunities for promoting patient empowerment through the development of quality relationship for effective patient involvement.

The study developed contributes new insight about patient empowerment in the healthcare management literature, proving the key role of satisfying physician relationship useful for future researches.

The aim of this research is to uncover issues that inhibit patients' satisfaction and loyalty and identify factors that could enhance customer retention by government hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The mediating impact of outpatient satisfaction on service quality, word of mouth (WoM), hospital image, outpatient–physician relationship and outpatient loyalty were tested.

The sample data used to test the hypotheses were drawn from a pool of patients served by a government healthcare agency in Abu Dhabi. Questionnaires were provided to 418 participants using methods such as short message service, e-mail and face-to-face delivery. The data were analyzed using SmartPLS 3.3.2 software.

The results indicate that service quality, WoM and outpatient–physician relationship positively impact outpatient satisfaction and indirectly effect outpatient loyalty; that hospital image positively impacts outpatient satisfaction and loyalty and has a partially mediating effect on loyalty; that waiting time satisfaction has no effect on outpatient satisfaction and no moderating effect on the outpatient satisfaction–loyalty relationship and that switching cost has a positive effect on loyalty but no moderating effect on the outpatient satisfaction–loyalty relationship.

The first limitation of this study concerns the fact that only patients who had previously been served by these hospitals' outpatient units were included. Furthermore, the research was not able to obtain extensive findings related to the various factors that negatively impacted patient satisfaction and loyalty among all of the departments of government hospitals, such as inpatient care and emergency care.

Centered on the findings from this research, increasing switching costs would prevent patients from switching to other healthcare providers. Therefore, it has the potential to create a false loyalty or a hostage customer (Jones and Sasser, 1995). Additionally, making patients feel connected to their treatment plan and engaged in their care by developing a tool to maintain their enthusiasm about their health is important. It is therefore recommended that government hospital care providers and management consider providing online tools that patients can use to self-manage their care.

The results regarding patients' satisfaction level suggest several areas for improvement. The first pertains to waiting area entertainment and comfort because patients indicated that there is not enough entertainment or ways to pass the time when waiting for services. In addition to enhancing the entertainment and comfort of waiting areas, government hospital staff should maintain contact with patients who are waiting to ensure that they are aware of the time they will spend. Another area for improvement is the parking lot. During summer, patients prefer to walk less in the sun, which causes them to seek parking closer to the door. Government hospital management should consider different methods for transporting patients closer to the door, such as golf carts or valet services.

This is the first study to investigate the mediating impact of outpatients' satisfaction between its antecedents and loyalty in the UAE. These results provide an improved understanding of the factors influencing patient choices and establish more accurate methods for increasing patient loyalty to retain more patients.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent of consumer trust of physicians’ prescription of branded medications.

This paper adopts a qualitative research approach to study consumers’ self-reported experiences with respect to their trust in physicians’ prescription of branded medications. An open-interview approach and a focus group discussion were adopted in collecting research evidence from a sample of middle-level executives from various Ghanaian industries who have experienced physicians’ prescription of branded medications.

Consumers have mix reactions toward physicians’ prescriptions of branded medicines. Whereas some trust, others are uncertain, while some do not trust physicians at all. The last group believes the physicians are serving the interest of third parties in prescribing branded medications.

This study focuses only on patients’ perspectives. This research could be widened to include other important stakeholders of healthcare delivery such as physicians, pharmacists and management of health institutions.

The study provides a platform for physicians to appreciate the trust their clients repose in them as they prescribe medication to them.

It is envisaged that the research will assist consumers of branded medications to probe into why branded medications are insisted on to be purchased instead of alternatives.

This study provides further perspectives on consumer reactions to physicians’ prescription of branded medications.

Examines the “dramaturgical” view of the service encounter to understand the service consumption experience. Illustrates this by demonstrating how the drama metaphor is applicable and useful in understanding perceived quality in health care services. Presents a strategic model of the medical encounter. Suggests impression management guidelines and, from a practical standpoint, serves to stimulate the imaginations of physicians and health care administrators on managing evaluations by paying attention to certain characteristics of the medical encounter.