Short-term evaluation of the AIDET communication framework at a tertiary teaching hospital in Ghana

Abstract

Background: Effective communication is crucial for health professionals who engage with patients daily. The AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation, and Thank you) communication framework can facilitate the attainment of patient-centered care by ensuring that clinical staff establish effective communication and interaction with patients. Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of the AIDET communication framework on improving patient satisfaction with healthcare services. Methods: A two-group posttest design was employed to evaluate the short-term outcomes of AIDET in enhancing patient satisfaction scores and health worker-patient communication in Ghana. A modified AIDET tool and three components of the PSQ-III instrument (comprising communication, interpersonal interaction, and time) were administered to patients without AIDET experience (comparison group) from February to March 2021 and patients with AIDET experience (intervention group) from November 2021 to January 2022, following AIDET training intervention conducted from April to October 2021. Data analysis included the computation of frequencies, means (SD), and independent t-tests. Results: Patients without AIDET experience viewed the importance of AIDET at 81.6%, compared to 96.6% for patients with AIDET experience. Overall, patients were not satisfied with all PSQ-III components combined. However, more than 80% of patients reported satisfaction with the time component of the PSQ-III, with a higher proportion (90.8%) for the intervention group. The patients in the intervention group rated the importance of AIDET significantly higher (48.51 ± 5.79) compared to patients in the comparison group (41.98 ± 6.53), with a mean difference of 6.53 (95% CI = -7.867 - 5.184; SD ±0.68; p <0.001). Conclusion: The use of AIDET in communicating with patients and their relatives is well-positioned to assist health facilities in achieving higher patient satisfaction scores and positive patient outcomes. However, the study revealed that using AIDET may not yield all positive outcomes in the short term.