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Biomedical subjects

Paul Haidet

Publications and source records attributed to Paul Haidet.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Physician overestimation of patient literacy: a potential source of health care disparities.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate physician overestimation of patient literacy level in a primary care setting. METHODS: The study sample consisted of 12 non-academic primary care physicians and 100 patients from a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital in Houston, Texas. Patient literacy level was measured on a 1-4 scale using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM). Physicians rated each patient's literacy level on a corresponding scale. Chi-square was used to test for association of patient race/ethnicity and gender with: (1) patient REALM level and (2) discrepancy between patient REALM level and physician rating of patient literacy level. RESULTS: Patient REALM level was not statistically significantly associated with patient race/ethnicity or gender. Physicians overestimated the REALM level for 54% of African American, 11% of white non-Hispanic, and 36% of other race/ethnicity patients (p<.01). CONCLUSION: Physicians commonly overestimate patients' literacy levels, and this apparently occurs more often with minority patients, and particularly with African Americans, than with white non-Hispanic patients. This discordance in estimation of patient's literacy level may be a source of disparities in health care.

Black or African American↗

The complexity of patient participation: lessons learned from patients' illness narratives.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the meaning of active participation from the patient's perspective. METHODS: We used a narrative framework to analyze transcripts generated from 16 qualitative open-ended, semi-structured interviews with primary care patients in Houston, Texas. RESULTS: Patients' illness narratives reflected several themes related to patient participation. These included patients' perspectives of illness (i.e., how central the illness is in the patient's overall life story and how changeable the patient believes their illness to be) and aspects of actions pursued in the context of patients' illness narratives (i.e., the degree of illness-related activity that a patient engages in and the role of partnership with the patient's physician in health decision making and illness management). The relationships among these themes explained a limited number of distinct illness-management strategies pursued by patients. CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed a level of complexity to patients' healthcare participation that has not been previously described. Patients' illness-management strategies were explained by four thematic story elements in dynamic interplay with unique variations for each individual. Further research is needed to explore how these story elements influence communication between patients and physicians. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: By understanding the nature of and relationships between the thematic elements in patients' illness narratives, practitioners will be able to better inform their negotiations with patients regarding participation in healthcare.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Role modeling humanistic behavior: learning bedside manner from the experts.

PURPOSE: Humanistic care is regarded as important by patients and professional accrediting agencies, but little is known about how attitudes and behaviors in this domain are taught in clinical settings. To answer this question, the authors studied how excellent clinical teachers impart the behaviors and attitudes consistent with humanistic care to their learners. METHOD: Using an observational, qualitative methodology, the authors studied 12 clinical faculty identified by the medical residents enrolled from 2003 to 2004 as excellent teachers of humanistic care on the inpatient medical services at four medical universities in the United States (University of Minnesota Medical School, Emory University, University of Rochester School of Medicine, and Baylor College of Medicine). Observations were conducted by the authors using standardized field notes. After each encounter, the authors debriefed patients, learners (residents and medical students), and the teaching physicians in semistructured interviews. RESULTS: Clinical teachers taught primarily by role modeling. Although they were highly aware of their significance as role models, they did not typically address the human dimensions of care overtly. Despite the common themes of role modeling identified, each clinical teacher exhibited unique teaching strategies. These clinical teachers identified self-reflection as the primary method by which they developed and refined their teaching strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Role modeling is the primary method by which excellent clinical teachers try to teach medical residents humanistic aspects of medical care. Although clinical teachers develop unique teaching styles and strategies, common themes are shared and could be used for the future development of clinical faculty.

Attitude↗

Personal growth and its correlates during residency training.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the characteristics of and factors associated with personal growth during residency training. METHODS: In 2003, 359 house officers on 7 internal medicine residency training programmes in the USA were surveyed about their training experiences and issues related to their personal growth. Factor analysis and internal reliability testing were used to develop a 'personal growth scale'. Logistic regression models were then used to identify independent associations between individual variables and 'high' versus 'low' personal growth scores. RESULTS: A total of 281 house officers (80%) responded. The personal growth scale had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.81. Factors that were independently associated with achieving high amounts of personal growth during residency training included: agreeing that reflection is important during residency training (odds ratio [OR] 2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-7.4); being male (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.4-4.5); being non-white (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.3-3.9); having a strong desire to develop personally and professionally (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.1-4.1), and feeling highly supported by one's programme director (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.2-3.9). Independent predictors of scoring below the median on the personal growth scale included feeling emotionally isolated at work (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2-0.7) and noting that negative or disappointing experiences had been powerful (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2-0.9). CONCLUSIONS: Disparate amounts of personal growth occur among trainees during residency training. Residency programmes interested in promoting personal growth among their trainees may wish to focus on modifiable factors that are associated with personal growth, such as fostering supportive relationships and encouraging reflection.

Adult↗

The role of the student-teacher relationship in the formation of physicians. The hidden curriculum as process.

Relationship-Centered Care acknowledges the central importance of relationships in medical care. In a similar fashion, relationships hold a central position in medical education, and are critical for achieving favorable learning outcomes. However, there is little empirical work in the medical literature that explores the development and meaning of relationships in medical education. In this essay, we explore the growing body of work on the culture of medical school, often termed the "hidden curriculum." We suggest that relationships are a critical mediating factor in the hidden curriculum. We explore evidence from the educational literature with respect to the student-teacher relationship, and the relevance that these studies hold for medical education. We conclude with suggestions for future research on student-teacher relationships in medical education settings.

Education, Medical↗

Personal growth during internship: a qualitative analysis of interns' responses to key questions.

BACKGROUND: During clinical training, house officers frequently encounter intense experiences that may affect their personal growth. The purpose of this study was to explore processes related to personal growth during internship. DESIGN: Prospective qualitative study conducted over the course of internship. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two postgraduate year (PGY)-1 residents from 9 U.S. internal medicine training programs. APPROACH: Every 8 weeks, interns responded by e-mail to an open-ended question related to personal growth. Content analysis methods were used to analyze the interns' writings to identify triggers, facilitators, and barriers related to personal growth. RESULTS: Triggers for personal growth included caring for critically ill or dying patients, receiving feedback, witnessing unprofessional behavior, experiencing personal problems, and dealing with the increased responsibility of internship. Facilitators of personal growth included supportive relationships, reflection, and commitment to core values. Fatigue, lack of personal time, and overwhelming work were barriers to personal growth. The balance between facilitators and barriers may dictate the extent to which personal growth occurs. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts to support personal growth during residency training include fostering supportive relationships, encouraging reflection, and recognizing interns' core values especially in association with powerful triggers.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Not the same everywhere. Patient-centered learning environments at nine medical schools.

BACKGROUND: Learning environments overtly or implicitly address patient-centered values and have been the focus of research for more than 40 years, often in studies about the "hidden curriculum." However, many of these studies occurred at single medical schools and used time-intensive ethnographic methods. This field of inquiry lacks survey methods and information about how learning environments differ across medical schools. OBJECTIVE: To examine patient-centered characteristics of learning environments at 9 U.S. medical schools. DESIGN: Cross-sectional internet-based survey. PARTICIPANTS: Eight-hundred and twenty-three third- and fourth-year medical students in the classes of 2002 and 2003. MEASUREMENTS: We measured the patient-centeredness of learning environments with the Communication, Curriculum, and Culture (C3) Instrument, a 29-item validated measure that characterizes the degree to which a medical school's environment fosters patient-centered care. The C3 Instrument contains 3 content areas (role modeling, students' experiences, and support for students' patient-centered behaviors), and is designed to measure these areas independent of respondents' attitudes about patient-centered care. We also collected demographic and attitudinal information from respondents. RESULTS: The variability of C3 scores across schools in each of the 3 content areas of the instrument was striking and statistically significant (P values ranged from .001 to .004). In addition, the patterns of scores on the 3 content areas differed from school to school. CONCLUSIONS: The 9 schools demonstrated unique and different learning environments both in terms of magnitude and patterns of characteristics. Further multiinstitutional study of hidden curricula is needed to further establish the degree of variability that exists, and to assist educators in making informed choices about how to intervene at their own schools.

Adult↗

Precepting humanism: strategies for fostering the human dimensions of care in ambulatory settings.

Humanistic medical care is an important element of quality health care, and teaching humanism is increasingly recognized as an integral component of medical education. The goal of this article is to illustrate a series of tools that are effective in fostering both the provision and teaching of humanistic medical care in the ambulatory setting. Through a series of discussions, workshops, literature review, and practice, the authors have identified critical elements that promote the teaching of humanistic care. These elements include establishing a humanistic learning climate, creating clear individualized learning goals within a framework of humanism, developing an educational diagnosis of the learner, integrating psychosocial issues into the teaching intervention, reflecting on the learning experience with the learner, providing feedback throughout the teaching encounter, and planning follow-up with the learner. Strategies for implementation of these critical elements are presented with an emphasis on efficient educational interactions as required by busy ambulatory settings. Through the effective use of these teaching strategies, one can promote the teaching of the human dimensions of care in the outpatient setting.

Ambulatory Care↗

Characterizing the patient-centeredness of hidden curricula in medical schools: development and validation of a new measure.

PURPOSE: The "hidden curriculum" has a powerful influence in shaping medical students' attitudes and behaviors toward patient care. The purpose of this project was to develop and test a tool (the C(3) Instrument) to help educators characterize and understand the hidden curriculum at their own institutions. METHOD: In 2000, the authors developed survey items to measure three content areas of the hidden curriculum with respect to patient-centered care. These content areas include role modeling, students' patient-care experiences, and perceived support for students' own patient-centered behaviors. The survey was distributed to third- and fourth-year students at ten medical schools in the United States. Using factor analysis, the authors selected items for the final version of the C(3) Instrument. To examine validity, they compared instrument scores to results of a poll of members of two organizations devoted to teaching patient-centered care. RESULTS: A total of 890 students completed the survey. The mean age of students was 27 (SD 3). Fifty-two percent of students were women, and 70% were white. Twenty-nine items were selected for the C(3) Instrument, with internal consistency measures ranging from .67 to .93 for instrument subdimensions. In the validation analysis, summary scores for all three content areas of the C(3) Instrument were consistent with results of the poll of patient-centered organizations. CONCLUSION: Despite some issues that still need to be resolved, the C(3) Instrument proved to be a reliable and valid tool that characterizes a medical school's hidden curriculum with respect to patient-centered care. It can be used to guide educational interventions by addressing the context that exists around formal teaching activities. It also makes possible the study of hidden curricula across multiple medical schools. Further research on the hidden curriculum should be aimed at developing a greater understanding of the dynamics between formal teaching activities and school culture.

Clinical Competence↗

A comparison of in-class learner engagement across lecture, problem-based learning, and team learning using the STROBE classroom observation tool.

BACKGROUND: Having recently introduced team learning into the preclinical medical curriculum, evidence of the relative impact of this instructional method on in-class learner engagement was sought. PURPOSE: To compare patterns of engagement behaviors among learners in class sessions across 3 distinct instructional methods: lecture, problem-based learning (PBL), and team learning. METHODS: Trained observers used the STROBE classroom observation tool to measure learner engagement in 7 lecture, 4 PBL, and 3 team learning classrooms over a 12-month period. Proportions of different types of engagement behaviors were compared using chi-square. RESULTS: In PBL and team learning, the amount of learner-to-learner engagement was similar and much greater than in lecture, where most engagement was of the learner-to-instructor and self-engagement types. Also, learner-to-instructor engagement appeared greater in team learning than in PBL. CONCLUSIONS: Observed engagement behaviors confirm the potential of team learning to foster engagement similar to PBL, but with greater faculty input.

Behavior↗

Associations between the impact of terrorism and health perceptions of patients.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have demonstrated the effects of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on anxiety and anxiety-related conditions in Americans. However, data regarding associations between the attacks and patients' health perceptions are lacking. The objective of this study was to explore associations between the personal impact of the September 11th attacks and patients' perceptions of health and illness. METHOD: We performed a cross-sectional survey of 303 adult African-American, Caucasian, and Hispanic patients at primary care clinics in Houston, Texas. Data were collected between October 15, 2001 and March 1, 2002. We developed items to measure the impact of the September 11th attacks and patients' quality of life. Previously validated scales were used to measure health status, health locus of control, preferences regarding the patient-physician relationship, and patients' explanatory models of illness. RESULTS: Twenty-two percent of patients reported no impact from the attacks, 41% reported mildly negative impact, 22% reported moderately negative impact, and 15% reported extremely negative impact in their lives. In multivariate analysis, demographic characteristics were not associated with impact from the attacks. However, patients who perceived a more external locus of control with respect to health and patients who reported greater meaning of illness in their lives also reported more negative impact from the September 11th attacks. CONCLUSIONS: The September 11th terrorist attacks had at least a somewhat negative impact for a majority of patients far from the site of the nearest attack, and regardless of their demographic backgrounds. The amount of negative impact that patients perceived as a result of the terrorist attacks correlates with certain illness perceptions, including an external health locus of control and a perception of greater meaning of illness in one's life. Such correlations may indicate an effect of terrorism on patients' illness behaviors. Further research is needed to better understand effects of the threat of terrorism on the general health and illness behaviors of patients.

Attitude to Health↗

Empowering communication: a community-based intervention for patients.

The "How to Talk to Your Doctor" community education forums operate under the assumption that information exchange and consumer involvement in healthcare can empower communities in need. We report on the development and preliminary evaluation of this community-based intervention designed to activate and enhance patients' communicative abilities in the medical encounter. We review evidence supporting the feasibility of and benefits that can be expected from improving patients' communication competency. Our intervention is simple and flexible so, therefore, can be portable to a large number of communities. Our preliminary evaluation suggests that the intervention is well-received and produces improved self-perceptions of communication competence across diverse settings and participants. We describe our intervention and its development and dissemination as a model for improving patients' communicative abilities through a community-based, active learner approach. By sharing our experiences, the barriers we encountered, and our ongoing efforts to improve patient communication in the medical encounter, we hope to empower patients to communicate better with their physicians.

Communication↗

A controlled trial of active versus passive learning strategies in a large group setting.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of active and didactic teaching strategies on learning- and process-oriented outcomes. DESIGN: Controlled trial. SETTING: After-hours residents' teaching session. PARTICIPANTS: Family and Community Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics residents at two academic medical institutions. INTERVENTIONS: We randomly assigned residents to two groups. One group received a didactic lecture on effective use of diagnostic tests; during this session, the teacher spent a full hour delivering content. The other group received the same content in a session structured to foster resident-to-resident interactions. In the latter session, the teacher spent only 30 minutes directly delivering content to residents. MEASURES AND MAIN RESULTS: We measured residents' knowledge about and attitudes toward the session content before, immediately after, and one month after each session. We measured residents' perceptions of engagement and session value immediately after each session. We employed blinded observers who used a structured instrument to observe residents' activities during each session. Both teaching methods led to improvements in residents' scores on both knowledge and attitude assessments. The amount of improvement was not statistically different between groups. Residents in the active learning session perceived themselves, and were observed to be, more engaged with the session content and each other than residents in the didactic session. Residents in the didactic session perceived greater educational value from the session compared to residents in the active session. CONCLUSIONS: We reduced the amount of time spent in teacher-driven content delivery by 50 percent and covered the same amount of content with no detrimental effects on knowledge acquisition or attitude enhancement. Teaching strategies that foster learner-to-learner interactions will lead to more active engagement among learners, however, these learners may value the session less. Further research is needed to explore learner perceptions of the teaching process and other outcomes of active learning in medical education.

Adult↗

Transforming a clinical clerkship with team learning.

BACKGROUND: Team learning, an innovative educational method combining interactive small group learning with expert-based content delivery, was introduced into our psychiatry clerkship in 2002. The main goal was to increase classroom engagement and improve educational outcomes. DESCRIPTION: Eight of 16 lectures were replaced with team learning activities, including prerequisite readings, readiness assurance tests, and application exercises. Data on students' performance and educational experiences were compared before and after curricular change. EVALUATION: Following implementation of team learning, students performed significantly better on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) psychiatry subject test and scored higher on attitudes about working in teams. Students perceived team learning activities to be more engaging, effective, and enjoyable than conventional didactics. CONCLUSION: Incorporating team learning into the psychiatry clerkship was associated with improved student performance and increased student engagement and satisfaction. Team learning is a promising educational strategy that may prove useful in other clerkships.

Adult↗

"Building" a history rather than "taking" one: a perspective on information sharing during the medical interview.

Patients and physicians enter the medical encounter with unique perspectives on the illness experience. These perspectives influence the way that information is shared during the initial phase of the interview. Previous research has demonstrated that patients who are able to fully share their perspective often achieve better outcomes. However, studies of patient-physician communication have shown that the patient's perspective is often lost. Researchers and educators have responded with calls for practitioners to adopt a "narrative-based medicine" approach to the medical interview. In this article, we review the literature on narrative-based medicine with an emphasis on information sharing during the medical interview. We suggest a framework of skills and attitudes that can act as a foundation for future work in educating practitioners and researching the medical interview.

Humans↗

Racial and ethnic disparities in the use of health services: bias, preferences, or poor communication?

African Americans and Latinos use services that require a doctor's order at lower rates than do whites. Racial bias and patient preferences contribute to disparities, but their effects appear small. Communication during the medical interaction plays a central role in decision making about subsequent interventions and health behaviors. Research has shown that doctors have poorer communication with minority patients than with others, but problems in doctor-patient communication have received little attention as a potential cause, a remediable one, of health disparities. We evaluate the evidence that poor communication is a cause of disparities and propose some remedies drawn from the communication sciences.

Black or African American↗

Beliefs about control in the physician-patient relationship: effect on communication in medical encounters.

OBJECTIVES: Effective communication is a critical component of quality health care, and to improve it we must understand its dynamics. This investigation examined the extent to which physicians' and patients' preferences for control in their relationship (e.g., shared control vs doctor control) were related to their communications styles and adaptations (i.e., how they responded to the communication of the other participant). DESIGN: Stratified case-controlled study. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS: Twenty family medicine and internal medicine physicians and 135 patients. MEASUREMENTS: Based on scores from the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale, 10 patient-centered physicians (5 male, 5 female) and 10 doctor-centered physicians (5 male, 5 female) each interacted with 5 to 8 patients, roughly half of whom preferred shared control and the other half of whom were oriented toward doctor control. Audiotapes of 135 consultations were coded for behaviors indicative of physician partnership building and active patient participation. MAIN RESULTS: Patients who preferred shared control were more active participants (i.e., expressed more opinions, concerns, and questions) than were patients oriented toward doctor control. Physicians' beliefs about control were not related to their use of partnership building. However, physicians did use more partnership building with male patients. Not only were active patient participation and physician partnership building mutually predictive of each other, but also approximately 14% of patient participation was prompted by physician partnership building and 33% of physician partnership building was in response to active patient participation. CONCLUSIONS: Communication in medical encounters is influenced by the physician's and patient's beliefs about control in their relationship as well as by one another's behavior. The relationship between physicians' partnership building and active patient participation is one of mutual influence such that increases in one often lead to increases in the other.

Case-Control Studies↗