Empathetic Communication in Telemedicine: A Pilot Study.

Autor:	Subramanya V; Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA., Spychalski J; Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA., Coats S; Emory School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA., Gottstein E; Department of Clinical Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA., Chancellor J; Emory School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA., Kulshreshtha A; Department of Family and Preventive Medicine Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA | Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	PRiMER (Leawood, Kan.) [PRiMER] 2024 Jun 20; Vol. 8, pp. 36. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 20 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI:	10.22454/PRiMER.2024.644242
Abstrakt:	Background and Objectives: In health care, empathy is a clinician's ability to understand a patient's emotional state and convey that understanding in their care; and being culturally sensitive is communicating and respecting cultural differences. Providing health care on digital platforms introduces a new challenge of conveying empathy and cultural sensitivity. This study aimed to evaluate whether patients who were seen in-person had different perceptions of clinicians' empathy and cultural sensitivity compared to those who were seen via telemedicine. Methods: In this cross-sectional pilot study, we recruited primary care clinicians (N=8) and their telemedicine (N=14) and in-person patients (N=20) from two clinics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. We evaluated clinicians' empathy and cultural sensitivity by self-report and from patients' standpoints. Results: Patient perception of clinician empathy scores were similar ( P value=.31) for in-person appointments (mean=33.8) and telemedicine appointments (mean=31.3). Patient perception of culturally sensitive communication varied in the sensitivity domain and was consistently low for the domain of discrimination (suggesting low discrimination among the clinicians) regardless of the modality of the visit. Conclusions: This novel pilot study demonstrated comparable empathy and culturally sensitive communication scores in telemedicine and in-person visits, highlighting the potential for continued use of telemedicine in outpatient primary care. Delivery of care via telemedicine can enable an expansion of high-quality care to underserved communities. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings to enhance the experience of telemedicine visits for patients and clinicians. (© 2024 by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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