Sitting at the Bedside: Patient and Internal Medicine Trainee Perceptions

Area of Science:

• Medical communication
• Patient experience
• Physician behavior

Background:

• Sitting at the bedside can improve physician-patient communication and patient experience.
• Hospital physicians, including residents, may not consistently sit while interacting with patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the frequency of internal medicine residents sitting during inpatient encounters.
• To assess the link between patient-reported sitting and perceptions of physician communication.
• To evaluate residents' attitudes toward sitting.

Main Methods:

• In-person patient surveys and email resident surveys were conducted.
• Participants included general medicine teaching service patients and internal medicine residents.
• Data were collected between August 2019 and January 2020.

Main Results:

• Most patients (56%) reported residents "never" sat at the bedside.
• Frequent sitting (13%) correlated with positive communication behaviors (e.g., spending enough time, checking understanding).
• Only 36% of surveyed residents reported frequent sitting; lack of chairs was a common barrier.

Conclusions:

• Patients perceive infrequent bedside sitting by residents.
• Bedside sitting is associated with improved patient-reported communication behaviors.
• Encouraging physicians to sit may enhance overall patient perceptions of care.