Satisfaction with Medical Encounters Among Caregivers of Geriatric Outpatients

Caregivers' experiences and satisfaction with physicians and medical services provided to geriatric patients are reported. An outstanding predictor of satisfaction with physician communication and overall patient care was the extent to which caregivers were experiencing role strain. Other significant predictors included caregiver knowledge of clinic and social support services provided to patients. The data suggest that, irrespective of the quality of clinic services and physician communication style, some caregivers will be dissatisfied because their encounter is mediated by the stress of activities separate from the medical encounter. We assert the importance of specialized geriatric services and argue that if these services are not in place, caregiver satisfaction with the overall medical encounter will likely be much lower. *This research was supported in part by grants from the Center for Aging, University of Alabama at Birmingham and the AARP Andrus Foundation. The authors would like to thank Michelle Green, William Haley, Rebecca Silliman, William Yoels, and the anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.