A simple way to help cardiologists communicate with patients
A new JAMA Internal Medicine study suggests that communication coaching for cardiologists may help improve patient interactions by encouraging questions and increasing empathy.[1]
Out of 40 cardiologists who participated in the study, half were randomly selected to receive one-on-one training that focused on developing five skills: sitting down and making eye contact, asking open-ended questions, using reflective statements to demonstrate active listening, using empathetic statements, and making a point to solicit patient concerns by asking, ”What questions do you have?”
To determine the impact of the training on real-life conversations with patients, the study’s authors listened to 230 recorded interactions with patients and scored them on the latter four of the five skills (leaving out eye contact, since it could not be observed by audio recording).
Changes in real-life patient interactions after intervention
Based on the recordings, the researchers determined that the cardiologists in the intervention group more than doubled the number of times that the doctors responded with empathy to their patients, making statements such as “I wish things were different,” or “You seem worried.”
These statements, the authors explained, can be an important way to show patients that their doctors care about them and want to understand them.
“Therefore, the coaching intervention had a significant and potentially sustainable effect on the amount of empathy that cardiologists expressed, which has been shown to have an impact on both patient distress and comprehension,” wrote first author Kathryn I. Pollak, PhD, of the Duke Cancer Institute and Duke University School of Medicine.
Another significant observation from the recordings was that the cardiologists who had undergone communication training were four times as likely to solicit questions from patients in an open-ended manner, asking them what questions they have instead of if they have any questions.
“Phrasing the question that way assumes the default is that patients have questions. This might increase the number of questions patients ask and reduce barriers to question asking, including concerns about physician time or how that may be perceived, especially for those with low literacy.”
Positive feedback from cardiologists
Not only patients can benefit from communications coaching, the authors noted. The cardiologists who participated in the training sessions had positive things to say about the experience.
"They thought it improved their skills, changed their practice, and was worth their and possibly their colleagues’ time," the authors wrote.
View the full study here.