Missed Empathic Opportunities During Hand Surgery Office Visits

Area of Science:

• Medical Sociology
• Patient-Physician Communication
• Health Psychology

Background:

• Empathy enhances therapeutic alliance and patient health outcomes.
• Understanding empathic opportunities and physician responses is crucial in healthcare.
• Hand surgery patient visits present unique communication dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the frequency and nature of empathic opportunities in hand surgery consultations.
• To analyze hand surgeons' responses to these empathic opportunities.
• To identify patient characteristics associated with empathic opportunities and missed responses.

Main Methods:

• Prospective cohort study of 83 new adult patients visiting hand surgeons.
• Audio-recording of all patient visits for analysis.
• Utilized Levenson et al. model for categorizing empathic opportunities and responses.
• Assessed patient health literacy, upper-extremity function, pain interference, depression, and sociodemographics.

Main Results:

• Empathic opportunities occurred in 70% of hand surgery visits.
• Hand surgeons responded empathically in approximately 50% of these opportunities.
• Limited health literacy and higher depression symptoms correlated with fewer positive empathic responses.
• Empathic responses did not significantly alter visit duration.

Conclusions:

• Hand surgeons frequently miss opportunities for empathic communication.
• Further research should explore physician training interventions for addressing empathic opportunities.
• Improving empathic responses may positively influence patient trust, adherence, satisfaction, and outcomes.