Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26921153›Full record

Observational studyJournal of general internal medicine2016

Communication Skills Training for Physicians Improves Patient Satisfaction.

Adrienne Boissy, Amy K Windover, Dan Bokar, Matthew Karafa, Katie Neuendorf, Richard M Frankel, James Merlino, Michael B Rothberg

Abstract readObservational Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Observational study in Journal of general internal medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 224 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
224citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

224 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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164 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Adrienne BoissyOffice of Patient Experience, Center for Excellence in Healthcare Communication, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave, NA4, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA. boissya@ccf.org.
Amy K WindoverOffice of Patient Experience, Center for Excellence in Healthcare Communication, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave, NA4, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA.
Dan BokarOffice of Patient Experience, Center for Excellence in Healthcare Communication, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave, NA4, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA.
Matthew KarafaQuantitative Health Sciences, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Katie NeuendorfOffice of Patient Experience, Center for Excellence in Healthcare Communication, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave, NA4, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA.
Richard M FrankelOffice of Patient Experience, Center for Excellence in Healthcare Communication, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave, NA4, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA.
James MerlinoPress Ganey Associates, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA.
Michael B RothbergCenter for Value-Based Care Research, Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSkilled physician communication is a key component of patient experience. Large-scale studies of exposure to communication skills training and its impact on patient satisfaction have not been conducted.

objectiveWe aimed to examine the impact of experiential relationship-centered physician communication skills training on patient satisfaction and physician experience.

designThis was an observational study.

settingThe study was conducted at a large, multispecialty academic medical center.

participantsParticipants included 1537 attending physicians who participated in, and 1951 physicians who did not participate in, communication skills training between 1 August 2013 and 30 April 2014.

interventionAn 8-h block of interactive didactics, live or video skill demonstrations, and small group and large group skills practice sessions using a relationship-centered model. MAIN MEASURES: Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CGCAHPS), Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), self-efficacy, and post course satisfaction. KEY

resultsFollowing the course, adjusted overall CGCAHPS scores for physician communication were higher for intervention physicians than for controls (92.09 vs. 91.09, p < 0.03). No significant interactions were noted between physician specialty or baseline CGCAHPS and improvement following the course. Significant improvement in the post-course HCAHPS Respect domain adjusted mean was seen in intervention versus control groups (91.08 vs. 88.79, p = 0.02) and smaller, non-statistically significant improvements were also seen for adjusted HCAHPS communication scores (83.95 vs. 82.73, p = 0.22). Physicians reported high course satisfaction and showed significant improvement in empathy (116.4 ± 12.7 vs. 124 ± 11.9, p < 0.001) and burnout, including all measures of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Less depersonalization and greater personal accomplishment were sustained for at least 3 months.

conclusionsSystem-wide relationship-centered communication skills training improved patient satisfaction scores, improved physician empathy, self-efficacy, and reduced physician burnout. Further research is necessary to examine longer-term sustainability of such interventions.

Indexed as

CommunicationEmpathyPatient SatisfactionPhysician-Patient RelationsSelf EfficacyAcademic Medical CentersBurnout, ProfessionalCase-Control StudiesFemaleHumansInservice TrainingMalePhysiciansburnoutCGCAHPScommunicationempathyHCAHPSpatient experiencepatient satisfactionphysician

Identifiers

PMID26921153
PMCPMC4907940

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.