title: Doctors in a Southeast Asian country communicate sub-optimally regardless of patients' educational background.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the relationship between the style of doctor-patient communication and patients' educational background in a Southeast Asian teaching hospital setting using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS).
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed a total of 245 audio-taped consultations involving 30 internal medicine residents with 7-10 patients each in the internal medicine outpatient clinics. The patients were categorized into a group with a high and a group with a low educational level. We ranked the data into 41 RIAS utterances and RIAS-based composite categories in order of observed frequency during consultations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The residents invariantly used a paternalistic style irrespective of patients' educational background. The RIAS utterances and the composite categories show no significant relationship between communication style and patients' educational level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Doctors in a Southeast Asian country use a paternalistic communication style during consultations, regardless of patients' educational background.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To approach a more partnership doctor-patient communication, culture and clinical environment concern of Southeast Asian should be further investigated.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Sekip Utara Yogyakarta, Indonesia. claramita@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mora
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Claramita
authors.forename: Jan Van
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Dalen
authors.forename: Cees Pm
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Van Der Vleuten
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D003142:Communication; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires