title: [The science of communication in the patient-physician relationship].
abstract: The authors dedicate their work to the improvement of inter-human communication within the healthcare system, mainly in the sub-system of the patient-physician relationship, with the aim of respecting human rights in general and in particular, of respecting patient rights. The combined usage of elements of medical ethics, acquired throughout professional training - university and post-university studies - and the knowledge assimilated following some last minute information relative to the science of communication is a permanent responsibility of all healthcare practitioners with the goal of improving their relationships with patients. The authors believe that this is the only way of increasing the degree of trust and satisfaction of the population towards healthcare providers. The authors are in favor of the implementation, in common medical practice, of this motto of communication: "If you do not communicate, you do not exist. If you do not know, you are at fault", as a founding principle of ethics and of the medical professional ethics, applicable equally in private and public medical practice. Effective patient-physician communication generates reciprocal trust. Its absence or poor communication can lead to distrust, suspicion, animosity and even conflicts which can cause physicians to be called before the College of Physicians of Romania or lead to legal repercussions for both physicians and patients. If it is true that, during medical assistance procedures, patients wish their right to be cared for and treated as dignified humans to be respected, it is also fair for those who care for them to evoke in turn their right to respect and dignity from the side of their patients. National legislation dedicated to issues relating to the professional patient-physician relationship contains provisions strictly in agreement with the regulations of the European Union. Once ethical and legal standards are introduced into national legislation, the next step should be towards the implementation and control of the procedure in which these desiderata are applied to life in Romanian society.
authors.affiliation: Comité National Roumain de Bioéthique, UNESCO.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Moroianu Zlatescu
authors.forename: Octav
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Popescu
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D035502:Trust