Association between emergency physician self-reported empathy and patient satisfaction

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Experience
• Emergency Medicine

Background:

• Physician empathy correlates with patient satisfaction.
• Limited research exists on this association in emergency care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the link between physician empathy and immediate patient satisfaction in the Emergency Department (ED).
• To explore this association across providers with varied experience levels.

Main Methods:

• Prospective observational study in a tertiary care ED.
• Assessed physician empathy using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE).
• Measured instant patient-to-provider satisfaction via surveys before discharge.

Main Results:

• Emergency Medicine residents showed lower JSE scores than senior physicians.
• Patient satisfaction was highest with senior physicians.
• A modest positive association was found between JSE scores and patient satisfaction (RR = 1.04).

Conclusions:

• Physician empathy positively influences immediate patient-provider satisfaction in the ED.
• Higher empathy scores generally correlate with increased patient satisfaction.
• Some variation in satisfaction exists based on provider characteristics.