Clinical trial NCT01304030: Improving Empathy and Relational Skills
Official title: Improving Empathy and Relational Skills in Resident Physicians: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Empathy
Keywords: Empathy
Lead sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2011-02-25
Enrollment: 99
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 20
Maximum age (years): 60
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP

Brief 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.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

All medical and surgical residents who are based at Massachusetts General Hospital will be eligible to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

Residents who are rotating at sites other then Massachusetts General Hospital Residents who are on rotations that do not include clinical care

Primary outcomes:
measure: Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure (CARE) measure
timeFrame: Up to 5 weeks (this is an average)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Jefferson Empathy Scale Mehrabian Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES) (30 items) 2.Jefferson Empathy Scale (20 items 3. Neuroscience of Emotions Assessment 4. Ekman Facial Expression Decoding Assessment
timeFrame: Prospective
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Boston
country: United States
facility: Massachusetts General Hospital
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital
name: Helen Riess, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Riess H. Empathy in medicine--a neurobiological perspective. JAMA. 2010 Oct 13;304(14):1604-5. doi: 10.1001/jama.2010.1455. No abstract available.
citation: Riess H, Kelley JM, Bailey R, Konowitz PM, Gray ST. Improving empathy and relational skills in otolaryngology residents: a pilot study. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2011 Jan;144(1):120-2. doi: 10.1177/0194599810390897.