The Jeffrey Silver Humanism in Healthcare Research Roundup features summaries of recently published studies on humanism in healthcare. To receive email notification of new studies once per month, enter your information here and select “Jeffrey Silver Research Roundup” from the checkboxes at the bottom. See previous posts in this series.
Publications from Gold Foundation-Affiliated Authors
Empathic nonverbal behavior increases ratings of both warmth and competence in a medical context
Kraft-Todd GT, Reinero DA, Kelley JM, Heberlein AS, Baer L, Riess H. PLoS One. 2017 May 15;12(5):e0177758.
This study was supported by a Gold Foundation grant.
Previous research has shown that, in some settings, there is a trade-off between empathy and competence; that when people’s perception of someone’s empathy went up, their perception of competence went down. Researchers tested this in a medical context and found that participants rated physicians displaying empathic nonverbal behavior as more empathic, warm, and more competent than physicians displaying unempathic nonverbal behavior, adjusting for mood. There was no warmth/competence trade-off. Read an interview with author Dr. Helen Riess about this study.
Linking the heart and the head: Humanism and professionalism in medical education and practice
Montgomery L, Loue S, Stange KC. Fam Med. 2017 May;49(5):378-383.
This study was supported by a Mapping the Landscape, Journeying Together grant.
Authors present a conceptual model designed to foster reflection and action to realize humanistic principles in medical education and practice. Cognitive domains often are associated with professionalism, and emotive domains with humanism, but it is the connection between the two that is vital to humanistic education and practice. This connection can be nurtured by personal reflection, action, system support, and collective reflection.
Development and evaluation of an online mental health program for medical students
Lattie EG, Duffecy JL, Mohr DC, Kashima K. Acad Psychiatry. 2017 May 23.
Dr. Kashima is a past-chair of the Gold Humanism Honor Society
Researchers aimed to assess acceptability, usability and effects of ThinkFeelDo, a six-week internet cognitive behavioral therapy program, on 14 medical students. Results of this small study indicate that medical students are willing to utilize online mental health programs and may receive benefit.
Using Objective Structured Teaching Encounters (OSTEs) to prepare chief residents to be emotionally intelligent leaders
Cerrone SA, Adelman P, Akbar S, Yacht AC, Fornari A. Med Educ Online. 2017;22(1):1320186.
Dr. Fornari is a recipient of an APGF mentoring grant
Researchers studied a 3-part Chief Resident (CR) Program focused on leading, managing and mentoring. Participants’ emotional intelligence scores improved after the program, which suggests that this kind of instruction could help early career physicians become more skilled and comfortable with leading, managing and mentoring.
Medical student resilience and stressful clinical events during clinical training
Houpy JC, Lee WW, Woodruff JN, Pincavage AT. Med Educ Online. 2017;22(1):1320187.
Dr. Lee is a Mapping the Landscape, Journeying Together grant recipient.
Researchers set out to characterize medical student resilience and responses to difficult clinical events during clinical training. In a survey of 117 students they found that mean resilience was lower than in a general population but higher in MS4s and students reporting no burnout. When students experienced difficult events in the clinical setting, their well-being was affected. Most students believed resilience training would be helpful and most beneficial during MS3 year.
Well-being in graduate medical education: A call for action
Ripp JA, Privitera MR, West C, Leiter R, Logio L, Shapiro J, Bazari H. Acad Med. 2017 May 2.
Dr. West is a Mapping the Landscape, Journeying Together grant recipient.
A collaborative of medical educators, academic leaders, and researchers recently formed with the goal of improving trainee well-being and mitigating burnout. In this paper they outline a framework of initial recommendations made at the national, hospital, program, and nonwork levels. The impact of these multilevel changes will promote a culture where trainees can learn in settings that will sustain them over the course of their careers.
Evaluating a novel resident role-modelling programme
Sternszus R, Steinert Y, Bhanji F, Andonian S, Snell LS. Clin Teach. 2017 May 9.
Dr. Steinert is a Mapping the Landscape, Journeying Together grant recipient.
The authors designed a resident role-modelling programme and incorporated it into the 2015 and 2016 McGill University resident-as-teacher curriculum. Participants rated the programme highly and showed significant improvement in their perceptions of their importance as role models and their knowledge of deliberate role modelling. Residents also reported an increased use of deliberate role-modelling strategies.
Increasing patient-clinician concordance about medical error disclosure through the patient TIPS model
Martinez W, Browning D, Varrin P, Sarnoff Lee B, Bell SK. J Patient Saf. 2017 May 10.
Dr. Bell is one of our Gold Professors.
Researchers studied the effect of including patients and family members in medical error disclosure training for interprofessional clinicians. They found that patients’ and family members’ baseline views about disclosure were significantly different from clinicians’ views. After the workshop, the two groups were in greater concordance about information sharing, fallibility, truth telling, and threshold for disclosure.
Other Publications
“Let me tell you about my…” Provider self-disclosure in the emergency department builds patient rapport (free full text)
Zink KL, Perry M, London K, Floto O, Bassin B, Burkhardt J, Santen SA. WestJEM. 2016 Nov 23; 18(1): 43-49.
In a survey of 520 ER patients, provider self-disclosure was reported in 18.9% of interactions; that self-disclosure was associated with more positive patient perception of provider communication skills. Patients who noted self-disclosure scored their providers’ communication skills as “excellent” (63.4%) compared to patients without self-disclosure (47.1%). Patients reported that they would like to hear about their providers’ experiences with a similar chief complaint (64.4% of patients), their providers’ education (49%), family (33%), personal life (21%) or an injury/ailment unlike their own (18%).
The association between a sense of calling and physician well-being: A national study of primary care physicians and psychiatrists
Yoon JD, Daley BM, Curlin FA. Acad Psychiatry. 2017 Apr;41(2):167-173.
A survey of 1,000+ physicians and psychiatrists showed that 42% agree strongly that their practice of medicine is a calling. Physicians who reported that medicine was a calling may be experiencing higher levels of career satisfaction, more durable clinical commitments, and resilience from burnout.
