Influence of Patients’ Perception on Doctors Physical  Appearance - Kap Study

Authors

patient perception, doctor appearance, Doctor’s attire, Patient–doctor relationship.

Introduction: Despite technological advances and changes that the medical fraternity has experienced in the

last few decades, the physical appearance of orthodontists influence the patients. Literature report says that

the type of clothing and accessories have the potential to influence the patient-doctor relationship.

Aim: This study was primarily aimed at investigating patient opinion on the physical appearance, behaviour

and overall professionalism of the physician or the doctor treating them.

Materials and Methodology: This questionnaire based study was aimed at subjects visiting as outpatients

in a private dental set up, who were 18 years or older. Subjects who were not able to read and write were

not included in this study. The participants were randomly involved in the study and were provided with a

questionnaire formulated with a set of 18 multiple choice based questions. They were asked to choose the

more appropriate answer from the options provided.

Result: Most of the preferences made by the volunteers showed that physical appearance did not affect the

perception of patients. There was no significant gender variation found.

Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, it can be concluded that the physical appearance of a

physician or doctor did not affect the patients’ perception towards his or her treatment. And there was no

gender variation found in terms of patient perception.

Akriti Tiwari1 , Arvind Sivakumar2

1 Post graduate, 2Senior Lecturer , Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics, Saveetha Dental

College and Hospital, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University