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Sponsored by: |
George Washington University |
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Information provided by: | George Washington University |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00861991 |
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.
Condition | Intervention |
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Patient Satisfaction |
Behavioral: Perspective taking instruction |
Study Type: | Interventional |
Study Design: | Randomized, Single Blind (Subject), Placebo Control, Parallel Assignment |
Official Title: | Enhancing Empathy in Medical Communication Through Perspective-Taking |
Enrollment: | 608 |
Study Start Date: | June 2006 |
Study Completion Date: | August 2007 |
Primary Completion Date: | August 2007 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure) |
Arms | Assigned Interventions |
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Perspective taking intervention: Experimental
Students were given an instruction to take the perspectives of their standardized patients
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Behavioral: Perspective taking instruction
Students were asked to take the perspective of their standardized patients during clinical skills examinations
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Control: Active Comparator
Students given standard instructions
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Behavioral: Perspective taking instruction
Students were asked to take the perspective of their standardized patients during clinical skills examinations
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These studies assess the interaction of students and simulated patients (actors)--no real patients were involved.
Ages Eligible for Study: | 20 Years to 45 Years |
Genders Eligible for Study: | Both |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
United States, District of Columbia | |
George Washington University School of Medicine | |
Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 20037 |
Study Director: | Benjamin C Blatt, MD | George Washington University |
Responsible Party: | GW University ( Benjamin Blatt ) |
Study ID Numbers: | PT2009 |
Study First Received: | February 27, 2009 |
Last Updated: | March 13, 2009 |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT00861991 History of Changes |
Health Authority: | United States: Institutional Review Board |
medical communication empathy medical education standardized patients enhancing "patient" satisfaction |