The improvement of results in healthcare through the transmission of information to the patient within a relation of empathy and trust is already a verified hypothesis. The purpose of this study was to explore of patient perceptions regarding the performance of the Radiographer in terms of interpersonal communication skills and toverify that the professional practice is carried out in accordance with a policy of respect for the Radiographers code of ethics and the charter of patients' rights and duties.

To performe this assesment following instruments were used: “Communication Assessment Tool” (Makoul et al. 2007) adapted to the professional reality of the radiographers; 14 questions with a five-point Likert scale; Paper-based instrument delivered and filled by the patients after the performance of general radiology procedures in two public hospitals; Descriptive and correlational statistic were performed.

225 valid questionnaires from 2 public hospitals were obtained. Patients aged between 24 to 85 y and diferent scholar levels and other sociodemographic data were collected (Table 1. Results of the pilot study indicate that the adapted instrument is internally consistent, with a high reliability scaleCronbach's alpha = 0.98. Considering radiographers communication skills, highest rating were obtained in following items (Table 2): Respect for the patients; Greet the patients; Time available to patient-centered care; Lowest ratings were obtained in next items (Table 2): Involved patients...

Radiographers communication skills were evaluated with good levels of patient confidence with the radiological examinations. Despite the overall positive results, this area of health service delivery must be accorded the attention it deserves to continually improve on patient satisfaction through improved communication. Communication with the patient takes an important part in providing quality health care. As such, interpersonal and communication skills are considered a core area of radiographer competence. An efficient interaction, with the goal of providing an Humanized care in radiology has many benefits...

Liliana Soares (BSc), Collaborator in the Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy Department, Health School - University of Algarve, Portugal. Luís Ribeiro (PhD), Professor in the Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy Department, Health School - University of Algarve, Portugal. Researcher in CIDAF - University of Coimbra (Centro de Investigação do Desporto e da Atividade Física) and Member of Studies Center in Healthcare (CES-ESSUALG). Email: [email protected] António Abrantes (PhD), Professor in the Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy Department, Health School - University of Algarve, Portugal. Researcher in CICS.NOVA.UÉvora (Interdisciplinary Centre...

Makoul, G., Krupat, E., & Chang, C.-H. (2007). Measuring patient views of physician communication skills: Development and testing of the Communication Assessment Tool. Patient Education and Counseling, pp. 333-342. Caprara, A. & Rodrigues, J. (2003). A relação assimétrica médico-paciente: repensando o vínculo terapêutico. Fortaleza. Ferranti, D. E., Makoul, G., Forth, V. E., Rauworth, J., Lee, J., & Williams, M. V. (2010). Assessing patient perceptions of hospitalist communication skills using the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT). Journal of Hospital Medicine, 5(9), 522–527. http://doi.org/10.1002/jhm.787 Franco, A., Bastos, A.&...