Enhancing Empathy in Medical Communication Through Perspective-Taking

NCT ID: NCT00861991

Last Updated: 2009-03-16

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 608 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2006-06-30
• Study Completion Date: 2007-08-31

Brief Summary

Background: Empathy is critical to clinician-patient communication and patient outcomes. Perspective-taking, an intervention demonstrated in other contexts to induce empathy, has never been studied in a medical context. As a first step in evaluating its potential clinical value, the studies described below assess perspective taking in a series of clinical skills examinations. These examinations are simulated clinical encounters: students encounter and are evaluated by standardized patients (SPs)--actors trained to take on patient roles. Though not real clinical encounters, clinical skills examinations have been demonstrated to test clinical competency well enough to be incorporated into the licensure examination of the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Objective: To assess if perspective-taking improves the satisfaction of standardized patients in three clinical skills examinations.

Hypothesis: Students receiving a perspective taking intervention will receive better standardized patient satisfaction scores than control students.

Design and Setting: Three randomized, controlled studies. Studies 1 and 3: Junior medical students(N = 503), 6-station clinical skills examination. Study 2: physician assistant students (N = 105), 3-station clinical skills examination.

Intervention: The intervention students received a perspective-taking instruction prior to their examination asking them to put themselves in their "patients" shoes and to imagine what they were thinking and feeling. The control students received standard pre-examination instructions. Simulated patients were blind to study condition. Main Outcome Measure: Simulated patient satisfaction scores.

Detailed Description

These studies assess the interaction of students and simulated patients (actors)--no real patients were involved.

Conditions

Patient Satisfaction

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Perspective taking intervention

Students were given an instruction to take the perspectives of their standardized patients

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Perspective taking instruction

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Students were asked to take the perspective of their standardized patients during clinical skills examinations

Control

Students given standard instructions

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Perspective taking instruction

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Students were asked to take the perspective of their standardized patients during clinical skills examinations

Interventions

Perspective taking instruction

Students were asked to take the perspective of their standardized patients during clinical skills examinations

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• All third year medical and first and second year physician assistant students, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Exclusion Criteria

• None

• Minimum Eligible Age: 20 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 45 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

George Washington University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

GW University

Principal Investigators

Benjamin C Blatt, MD

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

George Washington University

Locations

George Washington University School of Medicine

Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

PT2009

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id