Does the white coat influence satisfaction, trust and empathy in the doctor-patient relationship in the general and family medicine consultation? - interventional study

Objectives: To understand the influence of the white coat on patient satisfaction, opinions about medical clothing, perception about confidence, empathy and medical knowledge and the satisfaction and comfort level of physicians in consultation.

Setting: An interventional study was conducted with a representative sample of the population attending primary care in central Portugal.

Participants: The sample was composed by 286 patients divided into two groups exposed or not to a doctor wearing a white coat. The first and last patients in consultation every day for 10 consecutive days were included.

Interventions: Every other day the volunteer physicians consulted with or without the use of a white coat. At the end of the consultation, a questionnaire was distributed to the patient with simple questions with a Likert scale response, the Portuguese version of the \"Trust in physician\" scale and the JSPPPE-VP scale. A questionnaire was also distributed to the physician.

Outcomes: P...