Presentations

Abstract

Introduction: The compassion of healthcare providers has become increasingly recognized in the scientific literature as providing measurable benefits to patients, healthcare systems, and the providers themselves. Studies show that patients treated compassionately experience enhanced trust in their provider and in the patient-provider relationship. Increased trust is believed to contribute significantly to improved patient satisfaction and improved health outcomes. Efforts have been made to understand the factors that contribute to the delivery of compassionate healthcare by providers. However, there remains a gap in our understanding of the patient-centered factors that influence the perception of compassion from the patient's point of view, including the role of social determinants of health (SDoH - e.g., type of insurances, socioeconomic status, gender, age, education level). We hypothesize that SDoH directly contributes to patient satisfaction of healthcare services at the clinics investigated regardless of patient perception of provider compassion. The aim of this study is to better understand the role of physician compassion from a patient-centered lens and to identify how SDoH may impact patient perceptions of this factor, especially for historically marginalized individuals who may have experienced chronic disparities in healthcare delivery or outcomes over time. To identify other factors that may add to a patient's perception of clinic efficiency, patient satisfaction, or provider compassion.

Methods: This prospective, observational study, utilized a 36-item questionnaire to examine patient perceptions of compassion, as impacted by SDoH and patient satisfaction with their overall healthcare visit in an outpatient clinic setting. Inclusion criteria; adult patients (ages 18-89) were recruited via convenience sampling from three internal medicine clinics at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS). Patients were asked to fill out the questionnaire at the end of their medical appointment via research team members. Patients were given the choice to complete the questionnaire on a paper form or by scanning a QR code to complete the questionnaire electronically. The questionnaire contained validated items from the following, 1) Outpatient 5-Item Compassion Instrument, 2) the Visit-Specific Instrument (VSQ-9), and 3) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - The Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool, in addition to other general demographic data. Power analysis showed that statistical significance wou This prospective, observational study, utilized a 36-item questionnaire to examine patient perceptions of compassion, as impacted by SDoH and patient satisfaction with their overall healthcare visit in an outpatient clinic setting. Inclusion criteria; adult patients (ages 18-89) were recruited via convenience sampling from three internal medicine clinics at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS). Patients were asked to fill out the questionnaire at the end of their medical appointment via research team members. Patients were given the choice to complete the questionnaire on a paper form or by scanning a QR code to complete the questionnaire electronically. The questionnaire contained validated items from the following, 1) Outpatient 5-Item Compassion Instrument, 2) the Visit-Specific Instrument (VSQ-9), and 3) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - The Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool, in addition to other general demographic data. Power analysis showed that statistical significance would be obtained from 800 patients. Data analysis will encompass both descriptive statistics & also linear or multivariate regression, as appropriate to identify potential associations between variables. ld be obtained from 800 patients. Data analysis will encompass both descriptive statistics & also linear or multivariate regression, as appropriate to identify potential associations between variables.

Results: Preliminary results of the 5-month data collection period highlight the perceptions of N=346 patients.

Conclusion: Dissemination of the information from this study's findings will add to the generalizable knowledge on the topic of physician compassion and will build upon prior studies that have reported smaller numbers of patients from outpatient medicine clinic settings. Robust results will impact outpatient practices across the nation by highlighting the patient perceptions of physician compassion for today's internal medicine patients, as impacted by SDoH.