Background: Medical communication plays an important role in patient care. The patient's perception of the physician's communication skills can be assessed using a psychometrically validated instrument, the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT). Aim: We aimed to apply it on a group of patients admitted to the internal medicine department of a teaching hospital in Cluj, Romania. Material and method: CAT consists into 15-items; 14 items regard the physician and one refers to the staff. Each item has a five-point answer scale with 5 corresponding to "excellent". The proportion of "excellent" ratings is considered to be more useful than using the means of the scores. We enrolled a group of 42 patients, 18 women and 24 men, aged between 38-71 years old (mean age: 55.55). Results: The average of excellent score obtained was 66.83%. The highest proportion of excellent score (88.09%) was obtained for items 1 and 2 (corresponding to "the patient was greeted appropriately", respective "the patient was treated with respect") and the lowest for items 10 and 11 (45.23%, respective 42.85%) corresponding to "the patient was encouraged to put questions", respective "the patient was involved in decision making as much as (s)he wanted". The findings are consistent with literature (Makoul et al, Myerholtz et al). Conclusion: Although limited by the sample size in our case, CAT results could be useful in practice for the improvement of medical communication.
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