Improving Empathy and Relational Skills
Condition: Empathy
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Our research hypothesis is that residents who participate in the empathy and relational
      skills training modules will significantly improve in these skills as compared to a control
      group of residents who receive residency training as usual that includes the current standard
      training in the doctor-patient relationship. To evaluate this hypothesis, we will use a
      two-pronged approach to assessment. The first prong is the residents' self assessment of
      empathy and the second is from the patients' perspective.
    

Detailed description: 
      The study design is a randomized controlled trial assigning resident physicians (N=100) to
      either: (a) empathy and relational skills training; or (b) control group receiving standard
      residency training as usual. Over the course of six weeks, each resident physician in the
      experimental group will receive three 60-minute training sessions focused on empathy and
      relational skills (the residents assigned to the control condition will receive standard
      residency training as usual). The emerging neuroscience of emotions and empathy has provided
      the neurobiological and physiological bases for our Empathy Training Modules to enhance
      patient-doctor communication. These innovative modules provide the basic science and video
      modeling for empathy training. Based on cutting edge mirror neuron research, our training
      modules offer a novel approach to empathy and relational skills training that teaches
      physicians about the neurobiology and physiology of emotions in difficult or stressful
      patient interactions. We have developed professionally produced high definition training
      modules that portray difficult patient-physician interactions. Importantly, these videos also
      include physiological displays of emotion for both members of the dyad so that one can easily
      observe the degree to which patient and physician are physiologically concordant or
      discordant with one another. The empathy training is conducted at a deeper level of
      physiological awareness and regulation that promises to be more effective than traditional
      didactic teaching by integrating the technology of psychophysiology. The goal of raising
      awareness of physiologic indices during a patient-doctor interaction is to present an
      objective measure of emotional response to both explicit and implicit stimuli, which promises
      to be a powerful teaching tool to enhance empathic physician behaviors.
    

Intervention name(s): Empathy Training Modules; Residency Training as usual
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The Empathy Training Modules utilize translational research in emotion expression basic science, physiology of emotions, decoding facial expressions and self-regulation skills as pertaining to management of medical and surgical patients.; Residents will receive their typical didactic and clinical education
Other intervention name(s): E.M.P.A.T.H.Y. (TM); Residency Training
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Keywords: Empathy