Physician communication coaching effects on patient experience.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Services Research
• Patient Experience

Background:

• High-quality healthcare relies on excellent physician communication.
• Patient perception of physician communication significantly impacts overall healthcare quality.
• Assessing the effectiveness of targeted communication training is crucial for improving patient experiences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a physician communication training module on patient perceptions of physician communication behaviors.
• To measure changes in patient experience scores related to physician communication.
• To determine if simulation-based coaching improves patient-reported outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental pre-post design was used.
• An intervention group of internal medicine hospitalists and residents received communication skills training.
• A control group of surgeons did not receive the training.
• Patient experience was measured using the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) and Non-HCAHPS Physician-Specific Patient Experience Survey (NHPPES).

Main Results:

• Analysis included 5020 HCAHPS and 1990 NHPPES patient responses.
• No significant improvement was observed in HCAHPS scores for courtesy, explanation, or teamwork.
• Significant improvements were noted in NHPPES scores for "keeping patient informed" (9.9%), "overall teamwork" (11%), and "using words the patient could understand" (14.8%).

Conclusions:

• Simulation-based physician communication coaching did not significantly improve HCAHPS patient experience scores.
• The training module showed positive effects on specific communication behaviors measured by NHPPES.
• Further investigation is warranted to explore the model's influence on patient perceptions of individual physician communication.