Empathy choice in physicians and non-physicians

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daryl Cameron ◽  
Michael Inzlicht
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
Potential Risk ◽  
Behavioral Assessment ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Patient Interactions ◽  
Trait Empathy ◽  
Physician Empathy ◽  
Physician Patient

Empathy in medical care has been one of the focal points in the debate over the bright and dark sides of empathy. Whereas physician empathy is sometimes considered necessary for better physician-patient interactions, and is often desired by patients, it also has been described as a potential risk for exhaustion among physicians who must cope with their professional demands of confronting acute and chronic suffering. The present study compared physicians against demographically matched non-physicians on a novel behavioral assessment of empathy, in which they choose between empathizing or remaining detached from suffering targets over a series of trials. Results revealed no statistical differences between physicians and non-physicians in their empathy avoidance, though physicians were descriptively more likely to choose empathy. Additionally, both groups were likely to perceive empathy as cognitively challenging, and perceived cognitive costs of empathy associated with empathy avoidance. Across groups, there were also no statistically significant differences in self-reported trait empathy measures and empathy-related motivations and beliefs. Overall, these results suggest that physicians and non-physicians were more similar than different in terms of their empathic choices and in their assessments of the costs and benefits of empathy for others.

scholarly journals Communication as a Key Issue in the Care of Diabetes Mellitus

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-310
Author(s):  
Elena-Daniela Grigorescu ◽  
Cristina Mihaela Lăcătuşu ◽  
Gina Eosefina Botnariu ◽  
Raluca Maria Popescu ◽  
Alina Delia Popa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Therapeutic Education ◽  
Communicative Interaction ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Patient’S Satisfaction ◽  
Communication Techniques ◽  
Physician Patient ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The physician-patient communication has an essential role in establishing and supporting the relationship between these two partners. Moreover, modern medicine highlights the patient-centered approach. Publications assessing the impact of an efficient physicianpatient communication on medical care results in diseases such as diabetes and hypertension have revealed a positive correlation between patient’s satisfaction about the communication with the physician and values of blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin and pain intensity. Interventions needed in both doctors and patients for developing communication abilities were paid special attention in order to achieve an appropriate improvement in their communicative interaction during periodical appointments. In the field of diabetes mellitus, the medical challenge is to improve patients’ knowledge about medical care; this aim is achieved only by therapeutic education, using high-quality communication techniques.

scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF PHYSICIANS’ GENDER AND EXPERIENCE ON PERSIAN MEDICAL INTERACTIONS

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-110
Author(s):  
Fariba Ramazani Sarbandi ◽  
Giti Taki ◽  
Pakzad Yousefian ◽  
Mohamad Reza Farangi
Keyword(s):  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Patient Interactions ◽  
Medical Consultations ◽  
Power Strategies ◽  
Tag Questions ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Physician Patient ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Chi Square Tests

This study focusing on physician-patient interactions aimed to find out whetherphysicians’ gender and experience influence Persian doctor-patient interactions. Sopower strategies in physician-patient interactions were extracted and categorized toexplore the relationship between physicians’ gender and experience and power strategies.Fieldwork was conducted in clinics and hospitals of Rafsanjan city in Iran. One hundredphysician-patient consultations were audiotaped and transcribed during 2011-2012.Woods’ (2006) view was used to examine four strategies of power and knowledge ontheir talk. The findings pointed out the importance of investigating discourse of medicinein order to improve medical consultations, especially physician-patient interactions.Our study confirmed some previous assertions that physician-patient interactionswere asymmetrical. Physicians controlled and dominated the medical consultations byquestioning, interruptions, directive statements and tag questions. The analysis of the datarevealed that all power strategies were applied in Iranian physician-patient interactions.The results of Chi-Square tests indicated that there was a significant relationship betweenpower strategies and physicians’ experience and gender. It was concluded that the femaleand inexperienced physicians tended to control consultations by questioning, interruption,directives and tag questions more than the male and experienced physicians.

scholarly journals Virtual Scribe Services Decrease Documentation Burden Without Affecting Patient Satisfaction: A Randomized Controlled Trial

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 2473011419S0010
Author(s):  
Savannah Benko ◽  
Alex Idarraga ◽  
Daniel D. Bohl ◽  
Kamran S. Hamid
Keyword(s):  
Patient Satisfaction ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Sample Size Calculation ◽  
Smart Device ◽  
Foot And Ankle ◽  
Sufficient Time ◽  
Encounter Time ◽  
Physician Empathy ◽  
Physician Patient

Category: Other Introduction/Purpose: Scribes are utilized as a means to reduce administrative burden on surgeons and enhance the physician- patient interaction. Virtual scribe services (VSS) are a contemporary take on the scribe that use a HIPAA-compliant smart device to record patient encounters for transmission, remote transcription, and insertion into the electronic medical record. The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of a VSS could decrease the total time an orthopaedic surgeon spends on documentation without diminishing the patient experience when compared to traditional post-encounter dictation (TD). Methods: Patients presenting for a first-time visit with an orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeon were consented and randomized to VSS or TD prior to the physician-patient encounter. Time spent with the patient in the exam room and time used to document away from the patient were recorded. A validated post-encounter survey assessed patient satisfaction, perception of physician empathy, understanding of the plan, and perception of the amount of time spent with the physician on scales of 0 to 10. An a priori sample size calculation with an alpha level set at 0.05 and power of 80% estimated that 50 patients were necessitated to demonstrate a 2-minute difference in time spent documenting away from the patient. Comparisons were made using a two-sample Student’s t-test. Results: Of the 50 patients enrolled, 25 were randomized to VSS. No differences in demographic characteristics were identified between cohorts (p>0.05 for each). Time spent documenting away from the patient differed between VSS and TD (1.19±0.65 minutes for VSS versus 5.80±1.70 minutes for TD, p<0.001) as did time elapsed between the end of the visit and the start of dictation (0±0 for VSS versus 123±70 minutes for TD, p<0.001). There was a trend towards more time spent with the patient in the VSS group than in the TD group (14.25±5.86 minutes versus 11.37±5.07 minutes, p=0.069). There were no differences between groups in survey responses regarding satisfaction, empathy, understanding, or perception of sufficient time spent with the physician (p>0.05 for each; Table 1). Conclusion: VSS in an orthopaedic foot and ankle practice decreases documentation time by approximately 4 minutes per new patient compared to TD, resulting in 2 hours of reclaimed physician time for every 30 new patients. With VSS, documentation is completed during the visit versus TD which is dictated on average 2 hours later. A validated survey identified no differences in patient satisfaction, perception of physician empathy and sufficient time spent with the physician, or understanding of the plan with VSS versus TD. Orthopaedic surgeons should consider VSS a HIPAA-compliant documentation option with time savings and no measurable difference in patient satisfaction.

Reflections on Physician-Patient Interactions in the EHR Era

2015 ◽  
Vol 153 (6) ◽  
pp. 905-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikas Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Patient Interactions ◽  
Physician Patient

Doctor, Tell Me I Am Sick: Physician Response to Patient Psyco-Social Problems

1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-80
Author(s):  
Clifford English ◽  
Christina de la Torre
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Direct Observation ◽  
Psychosocial Problems ◽  
Patient Expectations ◽  
Patient Records ◽  
Considerable Time ◽  
Considerable Evidence ◽  
Patient Interactions ◽  
Physician Patient ◽  
Physician Response

Considerable evidence indicates that non-psychiatric physicians devote considerable time in dealing with the psychosocial problems of patients. At the same time little is known about the kinds of problems patients present or how the physician responds to these problems. In an effort to determine both the kinds of problems presented and physician response, direct observation of physician/patient interactions and content analysis of patient records were carried out. Five dominant responses of physicians were identified and discussed in detail. In addition, patient expectations and interactions with physicians are explored.

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