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
Perceptions of chaplains’ value and impact within hospital care teams
Cunningham CJL, Panda M, Lambert J, Daniel G, DeMars K. J Relig Health. 2017 Aug;56(4):1231-1247.
This study was supported by a grant from the Gold Foundation Research Institute.
Researchers performed a mixed-methods investigation to learn about the effects of integrating clinically trained chaplains into hospital care teams. Data from more than 200 patients and physicians in training showed that clinically trained chaplains can contribute meaningful expertise and real value to the quality and comprehensiveness of patient and physician experiences.
What patients value about reading visit notes: A qualitative inquiry of patient experiences with their health information (free full text)
Gerard M, Fossa A, Folcarelli PH, Walker J, Bell SK. J Med Internet Res. 2017 Jul 14;19(7):e237.
Dr. Bell is a Gold Professor
Researchers reviewed 260 reports from patients and care providers who had used OpenNotes. This tool allowed physicians to share their notes about patient visits and let patients provide feedback about those notes. Ninety-eight percent of those reports indicated that OpenNotes was valuable. Patients liked that they could confirm and remember next steps and get quicker access and results. They enjoyed sharing information with their care partners and wanted to help clinicians improve note accuracy.
The association between peer and self-assessments and professionalism lapses among medical students
Hoffman LA, Shew RL, Vu TR, Brokaw JJ, Frankel RM. Eval Health Prof. 2017 Jun;40(2):219-243.
Dr. Frankel is a Mapping the Landscape grantee
Researchers compared peer and self-assessment scores from Years 1 to 3 of medical school for students who had been cited for professionalism lapses during medical school with those of a randomly selected control group. Students in the case group had significantly lower peer assessment scores than students in the control group during all 3 years.
Using a simulation of a frustrated faculty member during department chair searches: A proof of concept project
Shapiro DE, Abbott LM, Wolpaw DR, Green MJ, Levi BH. Acad Med. 2017 Jun 20.
Dr. Shapiro is a Gold Professor. Dr. Wolpaw is a Mapping the Landscape grantee
The authors piloted simulation scenarios in four department chair searches to assess candidates’ skill at handling common, challenging situations with faculty members. Two weeks in advance, candidates were given the scenario where a frustrated faculty member complains that he/she has too little time for academic pursuits. Sixty-nine percent of candidates were judged to have successfully passed the simulation and were ultimately advanced. The simulations revealed wide variation in candidates’ style, substance, and even underlying values that were not otherwise identified through the other parts of the recruitment and screening process.
Cruess, RL, Cruess, SR, Steinert, Yvonne PhD. Acad Med. 2017 July 25.
Dr. Richard Cruess is the Board Chairman of the Gold Foundation for Humanistic Healthcare, Canada. Dr. Steinert is a Mapping the Landscape grantee
Communities of practice can guide the development of interventions to make medical education more effective and can help both learners and educators better cope with medical education’s complexity. An initial step is to acknowledge the potential of communities of practice as the foundational theory.
The June issue of Journal of Patient Experience is devoted to “The Many Faces of Empathy.” It was co-edited by Richard Frankel, PhD and includes an article by Helen Riess, MD, both of whom are Mapping the Landscape grantees. The free full text of all articles is currently available.
Other Publications
Controlled interventions to reduce burnout in physicians: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Panagioti M, Panagopoulou E, Bower P, Lewith G, Kontopantelis E, et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2017 Feb 1;177(2):195-205.
Researchers set out to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce burnout in physicians. Twenty independent comparisons from 19 studies were included in the meta-analysis, which showed that recent intervention programs for burnout in physicians were associated with small benefits that may be boosted by adoption of organization-directed approaches.
Enhancing student empathetic engagement, history-taking, and communication skills during electronic medical record use in patient care
LoSasso AA, Lamberton CE, Sammon M, Berg KT, Caruso JW, Cass J, Hojat M. Acad Med. 2017 Jul;92(7):1022-1027.
Researchers tested an intervention on proper use of electronic medical records (EMRs) in patient care with 70 third-year medical students divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received a one-hour training session on EMR-specific communication skills. At the end of their clerkship, faculty and standardized patients (SPs) rated students’ empathic engagement, history-taking and communication skills in SP encounters. Findings suggest that this simple intervention can improve medical students’ empathic engagement in patient care, history-taking skills, and communication skills.
(Almost) forgetting to care: An unanticipated source of empathy loss in clerkship
Holmes CL, Miller H, Regehr G. Medical Education. 2017 Jun 9.
In the context of a course designed to help students manage the hidden curriculum, researchers collected data about students’ experiences of the hidden curriculum. Transcriptions of course sessions were qualitatively analysed. Researchers found a pattern that suggests it is the process of making patient care routine that shifts the patient from the status of an individual with suffering to the object of the work of being a physician.
Caregivers Are Heroes: An innovative educational strategy designed to promote compassion/caring in health professional students
Carson NE, Wise HH, Jacques PF. J Allied Health. 2017 Summer;46(2):117-123.
This paper describes Caregivers Are Heroes, an interprofessional educational strategy designed to imbue compassion/caring. One hundred and seventy students enrolled in three graduate programs conducted caregiver interviews in interprofessional groups of 3 to 4 students. The students were surveyed before and after the interviews. Quantitative outcomes support the use of this strategy to promote changes in student attitudes that might lead to caring and compassion when interacting with caregivers and the recipients of their care.
