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
Physician resilience: a grounded theory study of obstetrics and gynecology residents. Winkel AF, Robinson A, Jones AA, Squires AP. Med Educ. 2018 Oct 16. doi: 10.1111/medu.13737. [Epub ahead of print]
Dr. Abigail F. Winkel, Dr. Allison P. Squires, Ms. Aubrie-Ann Jones and Ms. Annie Robinson are Mapping the Landscape grantees.
This qualitative study aimed to bolster understanding of how resilience manifests. Results revealed that physician resilience is influenced both by an individual’s response to adversity and by the culture, suggesting that interventions that focus on individual skills and those that address the underlying system and surrounding culture could improve a physician’s capacity to thrive.
Measuring nonverbal behavior in clinical interactions: A pragmatic guide Blanch Hartigan D, Ruben MA, Hall JA, Schmid Mast M. Patient Educ Couns. 2018 Aug 15.
Drs. Danielle Blanch Hartigan, Mollie Ruben, and Judith Hall are Mapping the Landscape grantees.
Nonverbal behavior is an important form of communication but difficult to measure or assess. Researchers developed practical advice and strategies for coding nonverbal behavior in clinical communication, including a comprehensive checklist of questions to consider to help better understand patient and provider communication.
How can tomorrow’s doctors be more caring? A phenomenological investigation Gillespie H, Kelly M, Gormley G, King N, Gilliland D, Dornan T. Med Educ. 2018 Oct;52(10):1052-1063.
Drs. Tim Dornan and Martina Kelly are Mapping the Landscape grantees.
To help re-invigorate caring, this investigation looked closely at patients’ perspectives. Ten patients shared their lived experiences of doctors being (un)caring using images and narratives. Results showed that doctors who were perceived by patients as caring treated patients as individuals and shared their own individuality, listened carefully, spoke clearly, and encouraged emotions. Caring was demonstrated through smiling, handshakes, humbleness, collaboration, and acts that went “above and beyond,” such as calling a patient unexpectedly at home.
Cutting deep: The transformative power of art in the anatomy lab Grogan K, Ferguson L. J Med Humanit. 2018 Aug 8.
Dr. Katie Grogan is a Mapping the Landscape grantee.
Art & Anatomy is an unusual drawing course offered by New York University School of Medicine. Designed to enhance the understanding of anatomy, the course also creates space to process emotions and thoughts evoked by cadaver dissection. Medical students who have taken the course reported a variety of positive aspects, including fresh realizations at the uniqueness of each person’s body and an opportunity to reflect that helped dispel discomfort with the dissection process.
Care for dying children and their families in the PICU: Promoting clinician education, support, and resilience Dryden-Palmer K, Garros D, Meyer EC, Farrell C, Parshuram CS. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2018 Aug;19(8S Suppl 2):S79-S85.
Dr. Elaine Meyer is a Mapping the Landscape grantee.
A review of the literature, clinical experiences, and expert opinions were used to illuminate the impact of workplace stressors on PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) clinicians and determine strategies to support them. Clinicians’ health directly impacts quality patient care, healthcare team functions, and retention of providers. Reactions to stressors varied depending on the individual, and both overreactions and underreactions were determined to be problematic. Recommended interventions included effective communication among clinicians, checking-in and checking-out procedures, pre-briefs, debriefs, a nurturing environment, peer-to-peer networking, and meeting with consultants for reflection.
Playing music for hospitalized patients enhances mood and reduces perceptions of pain Xue F, Landis R, Wright SM. South Med J. 2018 Aug;111(8):460-464.
Dr. Scott Wright is a Gold Professor.
Listening to music has been well studied in the literature, but music was often selected by the researcher instead of by the patient. In this study, patients selected their favorite songs from an Internet-based library. Researchers evaluated the impact of music on patients’ emotions (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and levels of pain (Verbal Numerical Rating Scale) in 151 patients. The patients’ emotion mean score and pain score significantly decreased after listening to music. While previous studies have confirmed the health benefits of music, this study took advantage of now widely available digital libraries to allow patients to express themselves in their selection of music, which may have additional benefits.
Other Publications
All other things being equal: Exploring racial and gender disparities in medical school honor society induction Wijesekera TP, Kim M, Moore EZ, Sorenson O, Ross DA. Acad Med. 2018 Sep 18.
Racial and gender disparities have been well documented in the physician workforce, but limited investigation has focused on the potential origins of these disparities, such as medical school honor society induction. Researchers examined data from 11,781 medical residency applications to 12-15 specific residency programs and used logistic regression models to estimate the odds of an applicant’s induction into Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (AOA) and Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS). Women were more likely to be selected for GHHS but did not differ in their likelihood of being selected for AOA. Black medical students were less likely to be selected for the AOA but not for GHHS.
Compassion-focused therapy for people with dementia: A feasibility study Craig C, Hiskey S, Royan L, Poz R, Spector A. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018 Sep 19.
The purpose of the study was to evaluate a therapeutic intervention that focused on compassion for people with dementia. The three phases of compassion-focused therapy (CFT) can be adapted to meet the needs of people with dementia. Adaptations are based on challenges such as memory loss, concentration, attention, language, problem solving, and motivation, and patients may also have depression and/or anxiety as co-morbidities. Findings revealed improved mood levels, decreased anxiety levels, and improved self-compassion among patients.
Patient-centered communication behaviors that correlate with higher patient satisfaction scores Free full text
Finefrock D, Patel S, Zodda D, Nyirenda T, Nierenberg R, Feldman J, Ogedegbe C. J Patient Exp. 2018 Sep;5(3):231-235.
Communication between the patient and provider is a valuable part of the care process. Results from this study revealed that higher provider satisfaction scores were correlated with higher communication behavior scores, as assessed in the emergency department setting. 191 bedside observations of providers were recorded using the PatientSET tool, capturing behaviors such as smiling, shaking hands, and using open ended questions. Press Ganey scores measured satisfaction of the providers.
