Impact of communication training on physician expression of empathy in patient encounters.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether an educational intervention that focused on physician communication training influenced physician empathic expression during patient interactions.

METHODS: This study used a quantitative research method to investigate the influence of communication training on physician-expressed empathy using two measures (global and hierarchical) of physician empathic behavior.

RESULTS: The differences in global empathy scores in the physician training group from baseline to follow-up improved by 37%, and hierarchical scores of physician empathic expression improved by up to 51% from baseline scores for the same group.

CONCLUSIONS: The results strongly supported the hypotheses that training made a significant difference in physician empathic expression during patient interactions demonstrated by both outside observer measures of global ratings and hierarchical ratings of physician empathic behavior.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: These findings have significant implications for program design and development in medical education and professional training with the potential to improve patient outcomes.