The Fundamental Significance of The Social and Ethical Criteria for Primary Care Quality Assessment

Abstract

Abstract A vital aspect of the medical activity on which the medical care quality directly depends has been the doctor-patient relationship; it is of complex nature and is formed by a number of factors: professional ethics, communication culture of the doctor, the patients’ confidence in the doctor, etc. From an ethical point of view, the confidence of the patient has been an ethical indicator and criterion of particular importance for the quality and interpersonal relationship between the doctor and the patient. Data from the overview of a number of papers, as well as data from our own empirical study, has indicated the presence of a number of unresolved problems in this relationship. That has raised the significant necessity of a more thorough and comprehensive training of the medical staffin professional medical ethics in undergraduate and postgraduate training.