Background: Experts identify empathic responses to patient expressions of negative emotion – such as anxiety, sadness, and anger – as a key component of patient-centered communication, yet evidence on the impact of empathy on patient-reported outcomes in the hospital is limited. Methods: Our study objective was to assess the association between hospitalists’ expressions of empathy [...]

Background: Experts identify empathic responses to patient expressions of negative emotion – such as anxiety, sadness, and anger – as a key component of patient-centered communication, yet evidence on the impact of empathy on patient-reported outcomes in the hospital is limited. Methods: Our study objective was to assess the association between hospitalists’ expressions of empathy [...]

Background:  The rapidly changing and increasingly complex hospitalist work environment has placed new focus on provider burnout and resilience. As hospitalist leaders seek tools to address these issues, the design thinking process offers a novel user-centered approach. Initially developed in the tech industry, design thinking moves quickly and iteratively through five stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and [...]

Background: Clinical empathy is associated with improved patient outcomes, but it is often difficult to teach to medical students. Our survey attempted to understand the perception of medical students regarding role of empathy in patient outcomes and ways to improve empathy training for medical students Methods: A qualtrics survey was distributed to 456 medical students [...]

Background: While empathy is often a large focus at the undergraduate medical education (UME) level, it unfortunately loses priority at many residency training programs due to lack of a formal curriculum. Residents are at high risk for burnout, emotional exhaustion, and loss of meaning in their work, all of which can negatively impact their empathy. [...]

Background: Compassion, considered a cornerstone of quality healthcare by patients, families, clinicians, and policymakers, is believed to have wide-ranging benefits, including improving clinical outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction with services, and enhancing the quality of information gathered from patients. Compassion-filled interactions may also promote clinician wellbeing, decrease burnout, and improve mental health. Compassion is thought to [...]

Background: Physician burnout has been suggested to be positively associated with the degree of spirituality and negatively associated with empathy; however, sparse data with mixed results are available. Therefore, our objective was to determine if physician burnout is related to spirituality and with empathy. Methods: We surveyed attending physicians, residents, and medical students using an [...]

Background: Patient- and family- centered care (PFCC) is a key element of safe healthcare. Family-centered-rounds (FCR) incorporate PFCC into the daily workflow of children’s hospitals. This observational study assessed whether our rounds on the Baystate Children’s Hospital Infant’s and Children’s unit met key goals of FCR including providing medical information, engaging in open, bidirectional communication, [...]

Background: Background: The UNC Meet My Loved One (MMLO) project was implemented during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. As COVID-19 surged, patients and healthcare workers experienced unique factors that diminished recognition of patient personhood and increased healthcare worker (HCW) burnout. Adapted from the University of Alabama’s MMLO initiative, the UNC Palliative Care team [...]

Background: International medical graduates (IMGs) are vital members of the United States (US) healthcare landscape, making up 24.7% of physicians nationally.[1] Despite this, IMGs face numerous challenges in matching and transitioning to US residencies. One hurdle is adapting to the Western value of relationship-centered care (RCC), which emphasizes patient autonomy, shared decision-making, and interpersonal communication [...]